A senior officeholder in some Christian churches.
A familiar word, four lives.
Simplified path. The puzzle showed the main steps; the full route is being checked.
Greek
episkopos
‘An overseer’
into Late Latin
Late Latin
episcopus
‘A bishop’
into Old English
Old English
bisceop
‘A bishop’
became English
English
bishop
‘The church officeholder’
Greek episkopos meant an overseer. The church title travelled through Late Latin episcopus into Old English bisceop, then developed into bishop. The modern word compresses a much longer historical form.
These are selected stages, not every spelling or intermediary. The story identifies omitted links; older forms did not all disappear at once.
An ordinary-looking English spelling can conceal several lost syllables.