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Origin and history of vestry

vestry(n.)

mid-15c., vestri, (early 14c. as a surname), "room or outbuilding attached to a church for the keeping of clerical vestments and other church property," probably via Anglo-French *vesterie, from Old French vestiaire "room for vestments, dressing room" (12c.), from Latin vestarium "wardrobe," noun use of neuter of vestiarius (adj.) "of clothes," from vestis "garment" (from extended form of PIE root *eu- "to dress."). The earlier form in English was vestiarie (c. 1200).

The vestry also often served as meeting room for transaction of parish business or local government, and the word was retained in non-liturgical churches as the name of a separate room used for Sunday school, prayer meetings, etc.; hence also the transferred secular use in reference to a meeting or board of local voters (as in vestryman, 1610s). Related: Vestral.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to vestry

*eu-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to dress," with extended form *wes- (2) "to clothe."

It might form all or part of: divest; exuviae; invest; revetment; transvestite; travesty; vest; vestry; wear.

It might also be the source of: Hittite washshush "garments," washanzi "they dress;" Sanskrit vaste "he puts on," vasanam "garment;" Avestan vah-; Greek esthes "clothing," hennymi "to clothe," eima "garment;" Latin vestire "to clothe;" Welsh gwisgo, Breton gwiska; Old English werian "to clothe, put on, cover up," wæstling "sheet, blanket."

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    sacristy
    "repository for sacred things," especially an apartment in a church or monastery in which sacred utensils and ceremonial vestments are kept, mid-15c., from Anglo-French sacrestie, from Medieval Latin sacrista, from Latin sacer "sacred" (see sacred). Vulgarly contracted as sextry.
    church
    Old English cirice, circe "place of assemblage set aside for Christian worship; the body of Christian believers, Christians collectively; ecclesiastical authority or power," from Proto-Germanic *kirika (source also of Old Saxon kirika, Old Norse kirkja, Old Frisian zerke, Middle
    committee
    late 15c., "person appointed to attend to any business, person to whom something is committed," from Anglo-French commite; see commit + -ee. From 1620s as "body of persons, appointed or elected, to whom some special business or function has been entrusted;" a new formation or els
    room
    Middle English roum, from Old English rum "space, extent; sufficient space, fit occasion (to do something)," from Proto-Germanic *ruman (source also of Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old High German, Gothic rum, German Raum "space," Dutch ruim "hold of a ship, nave"), nouns formed from Ge
    moor
    "to fasten (a ship) in a particular location by or as by cables, anchors, etc.," late 15c., probably related to Old English mærels "mooring rope," via unrecorded *mærian "to moor," or possibly borrowed from Middle Low German moren or Middle Dutch maren "to moor," from West German
    commission
    mid-14c., "authority entrusted to someone, delegated authority or power," from Old French commission and directly from Latin commissionem (nominative commissio) "act of committing," in Medieval Latin "delegation of business," noun of action from past participle stem of committere
    nervous
    late 14c., "containing nerves; affecting the sinews" (the latter sense now obsolete); from Latin nervosus "sinewy, vigorous," from nervus "sinew, nerve" (see nerve (n.)). The meaning "of or belonging to the nerves" in the modern anatomical sense is from 1660s. From 1630s it was u
    monument
    late 13c., "a sepulchre," from Old French monument "grave, tomb, monument," and directly from Latin monumentum "a monument, memorial structure, statue; votive offering; tomb; memorial record," literally "something that reminds," a derivative of monere "to remind, bring to (one's)
    affinity
    c. 1300, "relation by marriage" (as opposed to consanguinity), from Old French afinite "relationship, kinship; neighborhood, vicinity" (12c., Modern French affinité), from Latin affinitatem (nominative affinitas) "relationship by marriage; neighborhood," noun of state from affini
    gazette
    "newspaper," c. 1600, from French gazette (16c.), from Italian gazzetta, Venetian dialectal gazeta "newspaper," also the name of a small copper coin, literally "little magpie," from gazza; applied to the monthly newspaper (gazeta de la novità) published in Venice by the governmen

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