From Greek 'meter' (mother) + 'polis' (city) — originally the city that founded a colony, the 'mother city.'
The chief or capital city of a country or region; a very large and densely populated city.
From Late Latin 'metropolis,' from Greek 'mētropolis' (mother city, parent state), composed of 'mētēr' (mother, genitive 'mētros') + 'polis' (city). In ancient Greece, a 'mētropolis' was the city that had founded a colony — the 'mother city' from which colonists had emigrated. Corinth was the mētropolis of Syracuse; Megara was the mētropolis of Byzantium. The sense shifted from 'founding city' to 'chief city' or 'capital city,' and later to 'any very large city.' Key roots: mētēr (μήτηρ) (Greek: "mother
In the Christian church, 'metropolis' acquired an ecclesiastical meaning. A 'metropolitan' was a bishop whose see (seat) was in the chief city of a province, giving him authority over other bishops in the region. This sense preserves the Greek meaning of 'mother city' — the metropolitan see was the ecclesiastical 'mother' of the surrounding dioceses. The title 'Metropolitan' is still used in Eastern Orthodox churches.
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