Etymology

In Greek, the adjective kyriak-ós/-ē/-ón (κυριακόν) means "belonging, or

pertaining, to a Kyrios" ("Lord"), and the usage was adopted by early Christians of
the Eastern Mediterranean with regard to anything pertaining to Jesus Christ: hence
"Kyriakós oíkos" (Kυριακός οίκος) ("house of the Lord", church), "Kyriakē"
(Κυριακή) ("[the day] of the Lord", i.e. Sunday), or "Kyriakē proseukhē" (Greek:
Κυριακή προσευχή) (the "Lord's Prayer").[3]
Cyrican is an Old English word for churches and church property

In standard Greek usage, the older word "ecclesia" (Greek: ἐκκλησία, ekklesía,
literally "assembly", "congregation", or the place where such a gathering occurs)
was retained to signify both a specific edifice of Christian worship (a "church"),
and the overall community of the faithful (the "Church"). This usage was also
retained in Latin and the languages derived from Latin (e.g. French église, Italian
chiesa, Spanish iglesia, Portuguese igreja, etc.), as well as in the Celtic
languages (Welsh eglwys, Irish eaglais, Breton iliz, etc.) and in Turkish (Kilise).
[3]

In the Germanic and some Slavic languages, the word kyriak-ós/-ē/-ón was adopted
instead and derivatives formed thereof. In Old English the sequence of derivation
started as "cirice", then Middle English "churche", and eventually "church" in its
current pronunciation. German Kirche, Scots kirk, Russian церковь (tserkov), Serbo-
Croatian crkva, etc., are all similarly derived.[4]
History
Antiquity
According to the New Testament, the earliest Christians did not build church
buildings. Instead, they gathered in homes (Acts 17:5, 20:20, 1 Corinthians 16:19)
or in Jewish places of worship, like the Second Temple or synagogues (Acts 2:46,
19:8). The earliest archeologically identified Christian church is a house church
(domus ecclesiae), the Dura-Europos church, founded between 233 and 256.[5] In the
second half of the 3rd century AD, the first purpose-built halls for Christian
worship (aula ecclesiae) began to be constructed. Although many of these were
destroyed early in the next century during the Diocletianic Persecution, even
larger and more elaborate church buildings began to appear during the reign of the
Emperor Constantine the Grea