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Homily Has Greek Roots
Gather round for a succinct history of homily. The story starts with the ancient Greek word homilos, meaning "crowd" or "assembly," and travels through related Greek words homilein, "to address," and homilia, "conversation, discourse." Homilia eventually takes on the "usually short sermon" meaning in our modern homily, and then is incorporated into the Latin used by writers of the early first millennium. It reaches English speakers of the 14th century by way of Anglo-French, but when it arrives it's spelled omelie. By the mid-16th century the "h" is back, and the "y" of the modern spelling has found its place. A side note to our tale is this: be careful not to confuse homily with hominy, a 17th century word of Virginia Algonquian origin denoting a key ingredient in the Mexican soup posole (which, if we may be so corny, is a dish worth preaching about).
Examples of homily in a Sentence
Chris Willman, Variety, 16 June 2024
Last week, the pontiff skipped his homily during Palm Sunday Mass.
—Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 31 Mar. 2024
Archbishop of Baltimore William Lori gave a homily before Walker introduced the six minutes of silence.
—Dillon Mullan, Baltimore Sun, 9 Apr. 2024
An announcer then said on Vatican Radio that Francis decided not to read the homily.
—Greg Wehner, Fox News, 25 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for homily 
Dictionary Entries Near homily
Cite this Entry
“Homily.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homily. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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