Mióta járunk templomba? (templom és egyház)

In this paper I will examine the origin and meaning of the words templom and egyház. The word templom, which is of Latin origin, in the Hungarian lexis means a non-Christian church in other European languages. In the Hungarian Christian lexis, the word templom is first recorded in 1410, but the gospel translations of the Munich Codex refer to the church of Solomon. The word templum is still rare in Latin texts by Humanist writers in the 15th century. In the Latin texts of the Árpád period, the sacral building was called ecclesia, and egyház and not templom in place naming. The two meanings of the word egyház – the religious organisation and the building – changed by the end of the 15th century: anyaszentegyház (mother church) became the name of the organisation and the name of the building was changed to szentegyház (holy church). The latter was replaced by templom by the end of the 17th century, but szentegyház remained part of the geographical vocabulary until the 20th century. The compound word egyház, whose earliest mention in place-names is known from the late 12th century, must have been formed at the time of conversion to Christianity, at the latest during the reign of Stephen I. It was translated into Latin (sancta domus) at the end of the 11th century. The internal origin of the word egyház is remarkable, as is the fact that the first member of the word is not the word szent (holy), which already existed at the end of the 10th century, but the word ig / id, which expresses pagan sacrality.