Word: dominical Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Inherited from Middle English dominical (“(adjective) of or pertaining to the Lord’s day or Sunday; (noun) a book containing the liturgy for Sunday (?)”), borrowed from Medieval Latin dominicālis (“of or pertaining to Sunday, dominical”), from Latin dominicus (“of or belonging to a lord or master; (Ecclesiastical Latin) God’s, the Lord’s”) (compare diēs Dominicus (“the day of the Lord, Sunday”)) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). Dominicus is derived from dominus (“lord, master”) (used in Latin versions of the Bible to translate titles of the God of the Hebrew Tanakh and Greek New Testament; probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“to arrange, put together; to build (up)”)) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Adjective senses 3.1 (“of printed text: in a large size”) and 3.2 (“red, ruddy”) refer to the practice of printing dominical letters in a large size, or in red. Cognates * French dominical Pronunciation: /dəˈmɪnɪk(ə)l/, /dəʊ-/, /dəˈmɪnək(ə)l/ 1. A person who keeps Sunday as a day of rest, but does not regard it as representing the Sabbath of the Old Testament of the Bible. Example: So far, therefore, the dominical and Sabbatarian are at one; save that the ground of exemption, in exceptional cases, which the dominical seeks to establish by general reasonings of his own, the Sabbatarian finds established to his hand by the words of Christ. It is true that the dominical may differ from the Sabbatarian on the question, What is a real case of "necessity and mercy," such as will justify a departure from the letter of the law? But so may a Sabbatarian differ from a Sabbatarian. So may a dominical from a dominical: […] 2. A payment legally due from a parishioner to the parish, because the parishioner's house was built on land, ownership of which would have originally obliged the landowner to pay a tithe to the parish. Labels: UK, historical Example: Mr. Moore, in opening his case, stated that a custom obtained in this city [Exeter] of paying an annual amount of 4s. 8d. to the officiating clergyman of different parishes, which was termed dominicals. […] [T]he custom had existed for a long while in the parish of paying these dominicals, which might be taken in light of personal tithes, payable on land covered by houses. Example: [D]ominicals, as I understood, were payments in the nature of tithes, in respect of houses built upon land originally subject to tithe, which view was supported by the fact that in some of the parishes in the city both tithes and dominicals were payable, but in no instance that I was aware of was the same property subject to both. 3. The Lord's Day; Sunday. Labels: obsolete Example: The Goſpels appointed by the Church for the three other Dominicals, or Lords Days in Advent, refer to the firſt manner of his [Jesus's] coming, to vvit, in humility to viſit and redeem his people. Example: The Lutherans retain the cuſtom of Preaching upon the Dominicals. 4. Ellipsis of dominical letter. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, obsolete Example: Let me not die your debtor, / My red Dominicall, my golden letter, / O that your face vvere not ſo full of Oes. Example: If Gregory [i.e., Pope Gregory XIII] in the caſtigation of the Julian year had throvvn out only 7 days or a VVeek, the Dominicals of the Gregorian had been ſtill the ſame vvith the Julian; but in regard that he lop'd off ten, vvhich is three above ſeven, vve muſt take three Letters of the Julian Dominical to make it Gregorian.