Bethlehem
noun/ˈbɛθ.lə.hɛm/ · /ˈbɛθ.li.hɛm/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English Bethleem, from Old French Bethleem and Old English Bethleem, from Latin Bēthlehēmum, from Ancient Greek Βηθλεέμ (Bēthleém), from Hebrew בֵּית לֶחֶם (bēṯ lɛ́ḥɛm, literally “house of bread”). Doublet of bedlam and Belém.
1
Obsolete A lunatic asylum.
2
Architecture In the Ethiopic church, a small building attached to a church edifice, in which the bread for the Eucharist is made.
- […] to the Hebrew and Arabic word “korban” as now used in the Abyssinian Church to denote the sacramental bread specially prepared in the “Bethlehem,” or “House of Bread.”1869, John Baron, Anglosaxon witness on four alleged requisites for holy communion:
- A small building, attached to Ethiopic churches, usually at the eastern end of the sacrarium, in which the deacon prepares and bakes the bread for use in the eucharist. This building is called the Bethlehem, or “house of bread.”1882, William Audsley, George Ashdown Audsley, Popular Dictionary of Architecture and the Allied Arts, page 200:
2 more examples
- The deacon rings a bell when bread is brought from the bethlehem to the maqdas and at other liturgical times2006, Geoffrey Wainwright, Robert Earl Cushman, Karen B. Westerfield Tucker, The Oxford History of Christian Worship, page 143:
- The priests and deacons assigned to the service wash their feet and hands, usually near the 'Bethlehem'.2014, Bryan D. Spinks, Do this in Remembrance of Me, page 174:
- Derived terms
- bedlam, Bethlem