Synagog

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A building where Jewish people gather for prayer, scripture reading, and community activities
2. An archaic spelling for a Jewish house of worship where congregants meet to pray and study the Torah
3. A place of communal Jewish worship, study, and gathering led by a rabbi or lay leaders

Etymology: "Synagog" is simply an alternative spelling of "synagogue," so the history is the same. The Greek original, "sunagōgē," meant "assembly" or "gathering," built from "sun," meaning "with" or "together," and "agein," meaning "to lead." Literally, then, a synagogue was a place where people were led together. The word passed into Latin as "synagōga" and then into Old French as "synagoge," from which Middle English took it as "synagoge." Over the centuries the spelling settled on "synagogue," while the shorter "synagog" survives as a variant spelling. Its core meaning stayed remarkably stable: it has always named a gathering place of people, rather than shifting toward some unrelated sense.