Why not clubs, societies, or teams?
The answer lies in the link between Medieval Operative Masons and modern Speculative Freemasonry.
The word ‘Lodge’ is closely related to ‘lodgings’ (a place to live), ‘lodgement’ (a foothold), ‘to lodge’ (to put in place) and ‘loggia’ (a covered exterior gallery).
In the Middle Ages, stonemasons (Operative Masons) were itinerant workers who travelled from one building project to another, as and when their skills were needed. This meant they required temporary places in which to work, live, and sleep.
The original Lodges would have been temporary wooden workshops set-up alongside the building under construction; where the masons would work, dress and carve individual stones ready to be set in place. This was a skilled and demanding task, for not only did the stone have to be cut to the right shape, but its grain had to be correctly assessed.
Stones cut from sedimentary rock have bedding planes which indicate how they were laid down. If the wrong plane is exposed to the elements the stone will erode rapidly and weaken the building.
The masons’ workshops were often quite substantial and sometimes incorporated a forge where blacksmiths would make and sharpen the mason’s chisels and other tools.
Thus, a Lodge was originally a place of work, though some of the younger apprentices might well have lived and slept there too; hence ‘lodgings’.
Over time, ‘Lodge’ began to be used to denote the group of men who worked in such a workshop, which is why we use it today to designate each group of Freemasons.
