conventicle

English

Etymology

From Late Middle English conventicle, conventicule (“a gathering, meeting (especially a secret or unlawful one); (derogatory) a church”),[1] from Latin conventiculum (“assembly; meeting (or the place involved); association”),[2] from conventus (“assembled, convened”) + -culum (“suffix forming diminutives of nouns”). Conventus is the perfect passive participle of conveniō (“to assemble, convene, meet together”), from con- (“suffix meaning ‘together, with’”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“along, at, next to, with”)) + veniō (“to approach, come”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”) + *-yéti (“suffix forming intransitive, imperfective verbs”)).

Pronunciation

Noun

conventicle (plural conventicles)

  1. A secret, unauthorized or illegal religious meeting.
    • 1581, D. Fulke [i.e., William Fulke], A Briefe Confutation, of a Popish Discourse: […], London: […] [Thomas Dawson] for George Byshop, →OCLC, folio 12, recto and verso:
      [I]f when Luther firſt began to teach new doctrine, the catholiks at that time had not vouchſafed to giue him the hering, but had auoided his prechings & preuy couenticles, ther had not bin now in the worlde, either Lutheran, Swinglian, Calueniſt, Puritan, Anabaptiſt, Trinetarie, Family of loue, Adamite, or the lyke: whereof now there are ſo many thouſands abroad, al ſpringing of that firſt ſecte, and troubling at this day the whole worlde, […]
    • 1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC, page 37:
      If publique Aſſemblies of Divines cannot agree upon a right vvay, private Conventicles of illeterate men, vvill ſoon finde a vvrong. Bivious demurres breed devious reſolutions. Paſſengers to heaven are in haſte, and vvill vvalk one vvay or other.
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 168:
      In the meantime, Lord Avonleigh found a wonderful resource in being loyal; he attended county meetings, denounced the Puritans, discouraged conventicles, discountenanced long graces or long sermons, and was seized with a sudden veneration for the church as established by law, which led to fines and imprisonment on all absentees from worship as ordained by law.
  2. The place where such a meeting is held.
  3. A Quaker meetinghouse.

Translations

Verb

conventicle (third-person singular simple present conventicles, present participle conventicling, simple past and past participle conventicled)

  1. To hold a secret, unauthorized or illegal religious meeting.

References
  1. “conventicle, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 26 October 2017.
  2. “conventicle”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French [Term?][1] or Latin conventus (“assembled, convened”) + -culum (“suffix forming diminutives of nouns”). Conventus is the perfect passive participle of conveniō (“to assemble, convene, meet together”), from con- (“suffix meaning ‘together, with’”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“along, at, next to, with”)) + veniō (“to approach, come”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”) + *-yéti (“suffix forming intransitive, imperfective verbs”)). Equivalent to covent +‎ -icle.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /kɔnˈvɛn.ti.kl(ə)/

Noun

conventicle (plural conventicles)

  1. an assembly, a gathering, a meeting, especially one that is secret or unlawful
  2. (derogatory) a church

Alternative forms
  • conventicule

Derived terms

References
  1. “conventicle, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 26 October 2017.
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