Lectory

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A raised stand or reading desk from which passages are read aloud in a church ; a book containing portions of scripture arranged for reading during religious services
2. A lectern placed in a place of worship for holding the text during readings ; a liturgical volume of selected biblical passages set out for use in services
3. The reading stand in a church where scripture is proclaimed ; a collection of scriptural extracts organized to be read on set days of worship

Etymology: A lesson and a lectory were once close to the same thing. Both come from the Latin "legere," "to read," through "lectio," a reading. In Church Latin, "lectio" came to mean a passage read aloud during a service, and English "lesson" keeps that sense: a scripture reading in worship. The lectory takes its form from Medieval Latin "lectorium," a place for reading, built on "lector," "reader." That same root gives "lecture," "lectern," and "lectionary," the book of scripture readings for each service. The word therefore names both the stand where a reader stands and the book from which the reader reads.

Synonyms: lectern, lectionary