Decanate

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. One of three ten-day periods that divide a calendar month ; one of three ten-degree divisions within a sign of the zodiac
2. A ten-day interval marking a division of a month ; a ten-degree sector of a zodiacal constellation used in astrological interpretation
3. A period of ten consecutive days in a month ; a ten-degree section of a zodiac sign employed in astrological analysis

Etymology: "Decanate" names the office of a dean, or the district or jurisdiction a dean presides over. Its path runs through Latin, where "decanus" originally meant the commander of a group of ten soldiers, from "decem", ten. The Medieval Latin "decānātus" extended that sense to the rank and then to the territory under a church official, and English took the word in the 17th century. The suffix "-ate" is the key to the word's structure. It forms nouns denoting a rank, office, or the concrete charge that goes with it, as in "episcopate" for the office of a bishop. "Decanate" follows that pattern: it is the dean's office, and by extension the area of responsibility attached to it. The same suffix gives us "deanery," a near relative that shows the English word for the dean's domain developing in parallel.