gereja (Indonesian)
Where does "gereja" come from?
The Indonesian word "gereja" traces its roots back to the Ancient Greek "ekklēsía," which originally referred to an assembly of people "called forth." This term passed into Latin as "ecclēsia" and eventually evolved into the Portuguese "igreja," reflecting the shifting focus toward a religious congregation. Through colonial contact, it was adopted into Malay and subsequently inherited by the Indonesian language to describe a church.
Full etymology tree
- gereja (Indonesian), 'church:'
- inherited gereja (Malay), 'church (a house of worship)'
- borrowed igreja (Portuguese), 'church (a house of worship)'
- inherited igreja (Old Galician-Portuguese), 'church'
- learned borrowing ecclēsia (Latin), 'church (a house of worship)'
- borrowed ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía) (Ancient Greek), 'assembly'
- compound ἔκκλητος (ékklētos) (Ancient Greek), 'selected to judge or arbitrate on a point'
- deverbal ἐκκαλέω (ekkaléō) (Ancient Greek)
- inherited *-tós (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates verbal adjectives from verb roots.'
- suffix -ῐ́ᾱ (Ancient Greek), 'Primitive suffix added to the stems of adjectives in -ύς (-ús) and some nouns to form feminine gender'
- inherited *-i-eh₂ (Proto-Indo-European)
- compound ἔκκλητος (ékklētos) (Ancient Greek), 'selected to judge or arbitrate on a point'
- borrowed ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía) (Ancient Greek), 'assembly'
- learned borrowing ecclēsia (Latin), 'church (a house of worship)'
- inherited igreja (Old Galician-Portuguese), 'church'
- borrowed igreja (Portuguese), 'church (a house of worship)'
- inherited gereja (Malay), 'church (a house of worship)'
Ancestors
- ݢريجا (Malay)
- igreja (Portuguese)
- igreja (Old Galician-Portuguese)
- ecclesia (Latin)
- ἐκκλησία (Ancient Greek)
Cognates and doublets
- eklesia (Indonesian)
Descendants and derived words
- Gereja Presbiterian (Indonesian)
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris