rosary

rosary
\ \ [14] Rosary comes from Latin rosāriumrose garden’, a derivative of rosarose’. It was a common conceit in the Middle Ages to name collections of verse or similar short pieces after bunches of flowers (anthology comes from the Greek word for ‘flower’, and a similar inspiration underlies florilegium, while a 13thcentury volume of the collected works of the Persian poet Sa’di was called the Rose garden).
\ \ That was the background against which a collection of Roman Catholic prayers, consisting of Aves, Paternosters, and Glorias, came to be known as a rosary. A string of beads of varying sizes came to be used for counting off how far one has got in saying these prayers (English bead itself comes from a word meaning ‘prayer’), and this too was termed rosary.
\ \ Cf.ROSE

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Rosary — Ro sa*ry, n.; pl. {Rosaries}. [LL. rosarium a string of beads, L. rosarium a place planted with roses, rosa a rose: cf. F. rosaire. See {Rose}.] 1. A bed of roses, or place where roses grow. Thick rosaries of scented thorn. Tennyson. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • rosary — (n.) mid 15c., rose garden, from L. rosarium rose garden, from neut. of rosarius of roses, from rosa rose (see ROSE (Cf. rose)). The sense of series of prayers is 1540s, from M.Fr. rosaire, a figurative use of the word meaning rose garden, on the …   Etymology dictionary

  • rosary — rosary, rosery A rosary is a set of prayer beads, and is also used to mean a rose garden alongside the newer (19c) form rosery, although rose garden is now the usual term …   Modern English usage

  • rosary — [rō′zər ē] n. pl. rosaries [ME rosarie < L rosarium, rose garden (in ML, rosary, garland of roses) < neut. of rosarius, of roses < rosa,ROSE1] 1. R.C.Ch. a) a string of five (sometimes fifteen) sets of beads (one large bead and ten small …   English World dictionary

  • rosary — ► NOUN (pl. rosaries) 1) (in the Roman Catholic Church) a form of devotion in which five (or fifteen) sets of ten Hail Marys are repeated. 2) a string of beads for keeping count in such a devotion or in the devotions of some other religions.… …   English terms dictionary

  • Rosary — This article is about the Catholic Marian devotion. For other forms of the Christian rosary, see Rosary based prayers. For prayer beads in other religions, see Prayer beads. Roman Catholic Mariology A series of articles on Rosary Blesse …   Wikipedia

  • rosary — /roh zeuh ree/, n., pl. rosaries. 1. Rom. Cath. Ch. a. a series of prayers, usually consisting of 15 decades of aves, each decade being preceded by a paternoster and followed by a Gloria Patri, one of the mysteries or events in the life of Christ …   Universalium

  • rosary — ro|sa|ry [ˈrəuzəri US ˈrou ] n plural rosaries [Date: 1400 1500; : Medieval Latin; Origin: rosarium, from Latin, rose garden , from rosa; ROSE1] 1.) a string of ↑beads used by Roman Catholics for counting prayers 2.) the rosary/the Rosary t …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • rosary — [14] Rosary comes from Latin rosārium ‘rose garden’, a derivative of rosa ‘rose’. It was a common conceit in the Middle Ages to name collections of verse or similar short pieces after bunches of flowers (anthology comes from the Greek word for… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • rosary — [[t]ro͟ʊzəri[/t]] rosaries N COUNT A rosary is a string of beads that members of certain religions, especially Catholics, use for counting prayers. A series of prayers counted in this way is also called a rosary. Estrada took a rosary from his… …   English dictionary

  • rosary — UK [ˈrəʊzərɪ] / US [ˈroʊzərɪ] noun [countable] Word forms rosary : singular rosary plural rosaries a) a set of small beads used by Roman Catholics for counting a series of prayers b) the rosary a series of prayers said by Roman Catholics …   English dictionary

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