Antidisestablishmentarianism
Antidisestablishmentarianism (listen to British sample , American sample ) is a political position that originated in 19th-century Britain in opposition to proposals for the disestablishment of the Church of England, that is, to remove the Anglican Church's status as the state church of England, Ireland, and Wales.
The establishment was maintained in England, but in Ireland the Church of Ireland (Anglican) was disestablished in 1871. In Wales, four Church of England dioceses were disestablished in 1920, subsequently becoming the Church in Wales.
The question of disestablishment of the Church of England is still current, often tied with the position of the English monarch as "Supreme Governor" of the Church (see Act of Settlement 1701). Those who wish to continue the establishment of the Church of England are referred to as Antidisestablishmentarians.[1]
[edit] Word length
The word is often referenced in English-speaking popular culture on account of its unusual length of 28 letters and 12 syllables. It is one of the longest words in the English language.[2] It is commonly believed to be the longest word in English found in major dictionaries (www.oxforddictionary.com), excluding coined and technical terms.[2] A slightly longer but less commonly accepted variant of the word can be found in the Duke Ellington song "You're Just an Old Antidisestablishmentarianismist"[3] although the correct construction of that word would be "antidisestablishmentarianist" (without the "ism") or "antidisestablishmentarian".
The word construction is as follows (the numbers succeeding the word refer to the number of letters in the word):
- establish (9)
- to set up, put in place, or institute (originally from the Latin stare, to stand)
- dis-establish (12)
- to end the established status of a body, in particular a church, given such status by law, such as the Church of England
- disestablish-ment (16)
- the separation of church and state (specifically in this context it is the political movement of the 1860s in Britain)
- anti-disestablishment (20)
- opposition to disestablishment
- antidisestablishment-ary (23)
- of or pertaining to opposition to disestablishment
- antidisestablishmentari-an (25)
- an opponent of disestablishment
- antidisestablishmentarian-ism (28)
- the movement or ideology that opposes disestablishment
J.E. Littlewood pointed out that the word is all "form" apart from the Latin stem st.[4]
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Look up antidisestablishmentarianism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Kimberley Blaker. "The fundamentals of extremism: the Christian right in America". New Boston Books. http://books.google.com/books?id=5QTfAAAAMAAJ&q=antidisestablishmentarianism+england&dq=antidisestablishmentarianism+england&hl=en&ei=CJAbTa_RBc_-nAe5n-X1DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg. Retrieved 2010-12-02. "Those who flavored the Church of England were called antidisestablishmentarians. The antis put down the rebellion of those who sought separation of the English state from the English church."
- ^ a b What is the longest English word? Oxford Dictionaries Online
- ^ ELLINGTON, Duke Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music
- ^ Littlewood's miscellany p.165 ISBN 052133702X
- Adrian Hastings, Church and state : the English experience (Exeter : University of Exeter Press, 1991.)
- Antidisestablishmentarianism in the Online Etymology Dictionary
- Antidisestablishmentarianismist in the Urban Dictionary
