Lessoun

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A selected passage from scripture read aloud during a religious service ; a piece of instruction or teaching given to someone to develop knowledge
2. An extract from the Bible or another sacred text read to a congregation during worship ; the act of imparting knowledge or guidance to a learner
3. A reading taken from holy writing and recited in church ; a body of instruction or moral guidance passed on to students or listeners

Etymology: Before it meant a unit of instruction, this word meant a reading. The Latin "lectio" was a reading aloud, and in the medieval Church it came to mean a passage of scripture read during the liturgy. That liturgical sense survives in the term "lessons" for the scripture readings in services such as Matins and Evensong. "Lessoun" is the Middle English form, borrowed from Old French "leçon," and it carried both the church sense and the emerging sense of something taught. The Latin root is "legere," "to read" or "to gather," which also gave English "lecture," "legible," and "collect." The shift from reading to teaching followed naturally, since a passage read aloud was usually meant to instruct. The "-oun" ending in the Middle English spelling reflects the French source, and the modern spelling "lesson" settled later, after the -oun form had dropped out of use.