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St. James

St. James

6.4
A New Testament follower of Jesus who is John’s brother and is said to have written the letter James
  • proper noun
translation icon : San Santiago
  • The chief town of this region is Santiago (St. James) de Compostela, the destination of one of the great medieval pilgrimages.
  • St. James A.M.E.

Examples

  • If the extra winter in Galicia can be believed, perhaps it was due to the desire to drink in the religious significance of the land of St. James.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Another song, this one for the Ogou known as Sen Jak (St. James), makes this point perfectly clear.

    Academic text (1996)
  • I am talking about the ambassador to the Court of St.James's.

  • This is a reference to the land of St. James, the region of Galicia in northwestern Spain.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Interview with Geneva Robinson, St. James A.M.E., November 4, 1986.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Interview with Carrie Davenport, St. James A.M.E. Cleveland Gazette, May 29, 1920. R. Flowers, "Family Oral History"; personal interview with Flowree Robinson.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Interview with Henry Pointer, St. James A.M.E.; personal interview with Willa Thomas, December 1, 1989. Hine, "Black Migration of the Urban Midwest," 127-146.

    Academic text (1996)
  • "Sundry Inhabitants" of St. James Parish, Mecklenburg County, charged that the vestry had tried "to enable one Rogers, a notorious gamester of infamous character, to obtain Holy Orders."

    Academic text (1996)
  • Interview with William Murdock, St. James A.M.E. Griswold, Fatherhood in America, 55; Bodnar, Simon, and Weber, Lives of Their Own, 91.

    Academic text (1996)
  • The supposed remains of St. James, one of Jesus Christ's Twelve Apostles, are enshrined in Santiago de Compostela.

Synonyms

James
vsSt. James
  • Literature
5.5

A short book in the Bible that teaches about faith and good actions

refers only to the person sense, not to the book
6.7

One of Jesus's twelve followers, brother of John, traditionally said to have written the New Testament letter James

is the same figure expressed with slightly different wording
Saint James
vsSt. James
5.0

A follower of Jesus who is the brother of John and who is believed to have written the letter James

is the same person but uses alternate phrasing in the description
St. James the Apostle
vsSt. James
7.5

One of Jesus's twelve followers who is John's brother and traditionally said to have written the New Testament letter James

is the same figure but uses a different descriptive term

Surface Forms

St. James main

Morphology

St. + James

The phrase is a simple compositional name: 'St.' is an abbreviation of 'Saint' and 'James' is a personal name, so a learner who knows those constituents will understand it denotes a saint called James. Detailed biblical identity (apostle/epistle author) is background encyclopedic information but does not affect the clear, predictable composition of the term.

Etymology

St. James is the name of James, one of Jesus's twelve 'apostles' who was later called a 'saint'. Because people built a shrine for him at Santiago and many 'pilgrims' walked there, St. James now refers to that apostle and the saint remembered in the New Testament 'letter' and by those who make the pilgrimage.