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Homily Has Greek Roots
Gather round for a succinct history of homily. The story starts with the ancient Greek word homilos, meaning "crowd" or "assembly," and travels through related Greek words homilein, "to address," and homilia, "conversation, discourse." Homilia eventually takes on the "usually short sermon" meaning in our modern homily, and then is incorporated into the Latin used by writers of the early first millennium. It reaches English speakers of the 14th century by way of Anglo-French, but when it arrives it's spelled omelie. By the mid-16th century the "h" is back, and the "y" of the modern spelling has found its place. A side note to our tale is this: be careful not to confuse homily with hominy, a 17th century word of Virginia Algonquian origin denoting a key ingredient in the Mexican soup posole (which, if we may be so corny, is a dish worth preaching about).
Examples of homily in a Sentence
Anthony Faiola, Washington Post, 31 Mar. 2024
The Vatican gave no immediate explanation for why the pope skipped the homily.
—Philip Pullella, USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2024
As tens of thousands of faithful holding palm fronds in St. Peter’s Square looked on, the moment arrived in the Palm Sunday Mass for Pope Francis to deliver his homily in a service marking the beginning of Holy Week, one of the most demanding and significant on the Christian calendar.
—Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024
His weekly homilies nearly always begin with relevant anecdotes, some of which are fun, others sad, and others thought-provoking.
—Sarah Schutte, National Review, 5 Nov. 2023
Scattered through the homilies are other tales, some of which involve his family members, and not long ago, one of these highlighted his sister, his nephew, and the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.
—Sarah Schutte, National Review, 5 Nov. 2023
Except that Catholic canon law requires an ordained deacon or priest to say the homily at Mass, and women can be neither.
—Kate Brady, Washington Post, 2 Oct. 2023
But, instead of giving the crowd a homily to hold, Deion shifted gears.
—Tyler R. Tynes, Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2023
Today, the opera can feel a little prim, like a homily.
—Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, 27 July 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'homily.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near homily
Cite this Entry
“Homily.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homily. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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