motherhouse

English

Etymology

From mother +‎ house.

Noun

motherhouse (plural motherhouses)

1. The monastery from which the other 'houses' of a religious order or congregation were (directly or indirectly) founded, often eponymous.

   The Cistercian order is named after its motherhouse Cîteaux in Burgundy, where abbot St. Bernard initiated in 1113 the reform of their branch of the Benedictine order, which has its motherhouse at Monte Cassino.

2. The convent which is the seat (and often the above original foundation) of the superior of an order or congregation, and/or on which lower ranking houses (such as priories under an abbot) depend.

Translations

religious monastery from which the other houses were founded

• Dutch: moederhuis (nl) n
• French: maison mère (fr) f
• Miyako: 家元 (やーむとぅ, yāmutu)

convent from which lower ranking houses depend

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Translations to be checked

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• housemother