Aedificatio

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process or act of constructing or building a structure or edifice; the advancement or development of a physical building; the metaphorical or spiritual establishment of a principle or institution
2. The action involved in erecting a building or architectural work; the progression or growth of physical construction; the figurative support or establishment of ideas or systems
3. The technique or practice of assembling or raising a built environment; the evolution or enhancement of structural form; the conceptual or moral formation of a framework or foundation

Etymology: In Latin, "aedificatio" was a plain building word: the process of constructing a structure, formed from "aedes" (a temple or house) and "facere" (to make). Its figurative sense came from Christian writing. In the Latin Bible, Paul compares the church to a building and speaks of believers being built up in faith, so the word came to mean spiritual improvement rather than bricks and mortar. English took the word in the late 14th century as "edification," and it has kept that moral sense. An edifying sermon instructs the soul; it does not raise walls. The literal building sense survives in a close relative, "edifice," borrowed from the Latin "aedificium," a different form of the same root that stayed with bricks and stone.

Synonyms: building, construction, erection, edification