Wiktionary

coenobium

See also: cœnobium

English edit

WOTD – 20 August 2023

Etymology edit

 
The coenobium (sense 1) or monastery of La Monjía at Fuentetoba in Soria, Castile and León, Spain.
 
The fruit of the Bodinier’s beautyberry (Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii). As this plant is from the family Lamiaceae, its fruit are sometimes called coenobia (sense 2.1).
 
A drawing of a coenobium (figure 6a; sense 2.2) of the alga Mischococcus confervicola.

Learned borrowing from Late Latin coenobium (“cloister, convent; monastery”), from Koine Greek κοινόβιον (koinóbion, “life in community; monastery”), the neuter form of κοινόβιος (koinóbios, “communal living”), from Ancient Greek κοινός (koinós, “common, shared”) + βίος (bíos, “life”).[1][2] Doublet of coenoby.

The plural form coenobia is borrowed from Late Latin coenobia.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

coenobium (plural coenobiums or coenobia)

  2. A conventual or monastic community; also, a convent or monastery.
    Synonyms: cenoby, coenoby
    • a. 1728 (date written), Isaac Newton, “Of the King who Did According to His Will, and Magnified Himself above Every God, and Honoured Mahuzzims, and Regarded Not the Desire of Women”, in Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John. […], London: […] J. Darby and T. Browne […]; and sold by J. Roberts […], published 1733, →OCLC, part I (Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel), pages 197–198:
      [T]his profeſſion of a ſingle life vvas propagated in Egypt by Antony, and in Syria by Hilarion; and ſpred ſo faſt, that ſoon after the time of Julian the Apoſtate a third part of Egyptians vvere got into the deſarts of Egypt. They lived firſt ſingly in cells, then aſſociated into cœnobia or convents; and at length came into tovvns, and filled the Churches vvith Biſhops, Presbyters and Deacons.
    • 1851 October, “Naples Bay and Fish-market”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XLIV, number CCLXII, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […], →OCLC, page 447, column 1:
      Some carts are entirely filled with representatives of the Church, but these are jolly, portly fellows, who pay loyally, and hasten to secure the most delicate fare for the table of their different cœnobiums.
    • 1894, John Cassian, “[The Works of John Cassian. The Third Part of the Conferences of John Cassian.] XIX. Conference of Abbot John. On the Aim of the Cœnobite and Hermit. Chapter III. Abbot John’s Answer Why He had Left the Desert.”, in Edgar C[harles] S[umner] Gibson, transl., edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. […] (Second Series), volume XI (Sulpitius Severus. Vincent of Lerine. John Cassian.), New York, N.Y.: Christian Literature Company; Oxford, Oxfordshire; London: Parker & Company, →OCLC, page 490, column 2:
      [A]fter I had passed thirty years living in a cœnobium, I rejoice that I have also spent twenty more, so that I can never be accused of sloth among those who tried it in a half-hearted way.
    • 1911, E. C. Butler, “Monasticism”, in H[enry] M[elvill] Gwatkin, J[ames] P[ounder] Whitney, editors, The Cambridge Medieval History, volumes I (The Christian Roman Empire and the Foundation of the Teutonic Kingdoms), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, →OCLC, page 529:
      There were the cenobia, or monasteries proper, where the life was according to the lines laid down by St Basil; and there were the lauras, wherein a semi-eremitical life was followed, the monks living in separate huts within the enclosure.
    • [1971, Theresa G[race] Frisch, “Early and High Gothic (1140 to c. 1270): The Symbolism of Churches and Church Ornaments”, in Gothic Art 1140 – c 1450: Sources and Documents (Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching; 20), Toronto, Ont., Buffalo, N.Y.: University of Toronto Press, published 2004, →ISBN, paragraph 4, page 35:
      Sometimes it [the church] is called Martyrium, when raised in honour of any Martyr; somes capella, (chapel,) … sometimes caenobium, at others sacrificium; sometimes sacellum; sometimes the House of Prayer; sometimes monastery; sometimes oratory.]
    • 1998, Simon Keynes, “Queen Emma and the Encomium Emmae Reginae”, in Alistair Campbell, transl. and editor, Encomium Emmae Reginae (Camden Classic Reprints; 4), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press for the Royal Historical Society, →ISBN, page xx:
      The Encomiast refers to St. Bertin's and St. Omer's as monasteria (II, 21, I and II) and caenobia (ibid., 15). […] The words monasterium and caenobium are, however, both freely used in medieval Latin in the sense 'collegiate church'.
    • 2002, Robert Imperato, “Desert Tradition: Cassian and Benedict”, in Early and Medieval Christian Spirituality, Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, →ISBN, page 45:
      Psalmody refers to singing or reciting psalms; in the cenobium this was performed communally seven times a day.
    • 2003, D[onato] Ogliari, “The Rise of ‘Massilianism’ in Gaul: Historical and Theological Framework”, in Gratia et Certamen: The Relationship between Grace and Free Will in the Discussion of Augustine with the So-called Semipelagians (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium; CLXIX), Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Belgium: Leuven University Press; Uitgeverij Peeters, →ISBN, pages 110–111:
      It is no exaggeration to say that among these foundations, those of [Vincent of] Lérins and St. Victor of Marseilles were so outstanding that the Gallic monasticism of the 5th century has to be identified with the history of these two coenobiums, and only partly with that of the monastic settlement in the Jura.
    • 2011, John Michael Talbot, “The Observance of Lent”, in Blessings of St. Benedict, Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, →ISBN, page 79:
      We are part of a community, a cenobium, and we are under the spiritual direction of an abbot and his delegates.
    • 2012, Mark Sheridan, “John Cassian and the Formation of Authoritative Tradition”, in From the Nile to the Rhone and Beyond: Studies in Early Monastic Literature and Scriptural Interpretation, Rome: Studia Anselmiana, →ISBN, part II (To the Rhone), page 417:
      The cenobium is the proper locus for the acquisition of virtue and in the nineteenth conference he has the Abbot John [Cassian], who had passed thirty years in the cenobium, twenty as an anchorite and then returned to the cenobium, expound the dangers of the desert and the advantages of the cenobium.
    • 2019 June, Ashvajit [Dharmachari], “Preface”, in In the Footstep of the Buddha, 4th edition, Llanidloes, Powys: Ola Leaves, →ISBN, note 4, page xxii:
      An anagārika does not formally commit himself (or herself) to the strictly cenobitical monastic restraints of a caenobium or monastery, such as finishing one's begging round for food before midday, and not handling money.
  3. (by extension)
    2. (botany) A fruit of a plant from either of the families Boraginaceae (the borages) or Lamiaceae which has small loculi or compartments, reminiscent of the cells in a convent or monastery.
      • 2009, N. M. Nayda, “Seed Productivity in Symphytum L. (Boraginaceae)”, in T. B. Batygina, editor, Embryology of Flowering Plants: Terminology and Concepts, volume 3 (Reproductive Systems), Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, part 3 (Seed Propagation), page 195:
        Comfrey fruit is a coenobium consisting not of two (in carpel number) but four monospermous eremes. Eremes are not opened and seed not released from pericarp falls from the plant.
    4. (botany) A colony of algae which acts as a single organism; a coenobe.
      • 1877 January 1, “New Books, with Short Notices. [The Different Sexuality of Volvox globator and V. minor.]”, in Henry Lawson, editor, The Monthly Microscopical Journal: Transactions of the Royal Microscopical Society, and Record of Histological Research at Home and Abroad, volume XVII, London: Hardwicke and Bogue, […], →OCLC, page 35:
        […] M. [Louis-Félix] Henneguy finds four kinds of these colonies, which he calls cœnobiums: […] At the moment of fecundation the bundles of antherozoids are set at liberty by the dissolution of the antheridia wall; they move quickly through the water, and fix themselves on the female cœnobiums, and then separate to fecundate the oospheres, but the author was not able to observe the exact moment of their penetration.
      • 1882, Julius Sachs, “Group I. Thallophytes.”, in Sydney H[oward] Vines, editor, Text-book of Botany: Morphological and Physiological, 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, class III (Oosporeæ), page 278:
        This group includes two genera, Volvox and Eudorina, which resemble Pandorina in many respects, and were formerly included with it in one group. Like Pandorina, these plants are motile, and consist of a number of ciliated cells aggregated into a cœnobium. […] The distinction between these plants and Pandorina is that in them certain cells of the cœnobium develops into antheridia and oogonia.
      • 1892, Francis Wolle, “Family, PROTOCOCCACEÆ”, in Desmids of the United States and List of American Pediastrums […], new edition, Bethlehem, Pa.: Moravian Publication Office, →OCLC, page 168:
        Genus, PEDIASTRUM, Meyen. Cells united into definite families, known as coenobiums; they are plane, discoid or stellate, swimming free. A coenobium is formed of cells in a single or rarely, in part, double stratum, which is continuous or perforated.
      • 1971, J. Danon, S. Stojanović, Ž. Blaženčić, “Comparative Studies of the Effect of Ecological Conditions of Microhabitat on the Structure of the Phytocenosis: Trifolieto-Alopecuretum pratensis”, in Vojislav Pavasović, transl., edited by Siniša Stanković and Paul Pignon, Archiv Bioloških Nauka [Archives of Biological Sciences], volume 23, numbers 3–4, Belgrade, Yugoslavia: Srpsko Biološko Društvo, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52:
        The study of ecological conditions under which the seasonal dynamics of meadow vegetation develops is one of [the] main parameters in exact studies of phytocenotic structure and the ecology of basic coenobiums.
    5. (zoology) A colony of unicellular organisms (such as protozoa) which acts as a single organism.
      • 1887 June 17, “Challenger Report”, in Science.—Supplement, volume IX, number 228, New York, N.Y.: The Science Company, →OCLC, page 596, column 2:
        The Radiolaria are marine rhizopods, whose unicellular body always consists of two parts,— […] The individuals are usually single: in only a small minority are the unicellular organisms united in colonies or caenobia.
      • 2007, “eutely”, in J. M. Lackie, editor, The Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology, 4th edition, Burlington, Mass.: Academic Press, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 151, column 1:
        eutely Phenomenon exhibited by a few phyla, notably nematodes, where all individuals have the same number of cells (or nuclei in a coenobium).

Alternative forms edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Translations edit

convent or monastery — see convent,‎ monastery

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ “cœnobium | cenobium, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2022.
  2. ^ “coenobium, n.”, in Collins English Dictionary.

Further reading edit

Latin edit

Etymology edit

From Koine Greek κοινόβῐον (koinóbion, “life in community; monastery”), a neuter form of Ancient Greek κοινόβιος (koinóbios, “communal living”), from κοινός (koinós, “common, shared”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by; near; with”) + *-yós (root forming adjectives)) + βίος (bíos, “life”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”)).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

coenobium n (genitive coenobiī or coenobī); second declension

  1. monastery, convent, cloister

Declension edit

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative coenobium coenobia
Genitive coenobiī
coenobī1 		coenobiōrum
Dative coenobiō coenobiīs
Accusative coenobium coenobia
Ablative coenobiō coenobiīs
Vocative coenobium coenobia

1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms edit

References edit

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