archangel

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English archangel, also arcangel,^[2] borrowed from Old French archangel, also archangele,^[3][4][5][6] or directly borrowed from Late Latin archangelus,^[3][4][6][5] from Ancient Greek ἀρχάγγελος (arkhángelos, “chief angel”),^[3][7][4][8] a word of the Septuagint and the New Testament,^[8][4] formed from ἀρχι- (arkhi-, “chief, first”) and ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger, angel”).^[1][7][9] The Anglo-Norman form archangle is recorded from 1121–35.^[10] Because an a followed it, the prefix kept the hard sound of its c in all the Romance languages and in early English spellings, and Gothic had 𐌰𐍂𐌺𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌿𐍃 (arkaggilus).^[3] The word gradually replaced the Old English translation hēahengel (“high angel”),^{[6][4][8][11]} which the OED records until about 1200.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An angel of the highest rank: before 1200, in the Trinity Homilies, where angels and archangles quake for fear,^[2] and in the Lambeth Homilies' Mihhal þe archangel.^[2] Barnhart dates the word to probably before 1200;^[6] the OED's first quotation is from the life of St Juliana (c. 1230).^[3]

Semantic evolution

In medieval angelology the archangels were the eighth of the nine orders of the celestial hierarchy, ranking below the principalities and above the angels;^[12][13] Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew (before 1398) describes this eighth order.^[2] The OED knows no satisfactory explanation for the word's transferred senses.^[3] From 1440 archangel was also a plant name: the Promptorium Parvulorum (1440) glosses it "dead nettle",^[2] and herbalists used it for several dead-nettles and allied plants,^[3][12][14] for the black horehound (1562),^[3] and as a book name for angelica (1855).^[3][5] The English Dialect Dictionary records it for the white dead-nettle in Leicestershire, Gloucestershire, Devon and Buckinghamshire, and for the yellow archangel in Somerset.^[14] Chaucer's Romaunt of the Rose (c. 1400) has archaungell for a bird, translating French mesanges, perhaps a titmouse.^[2][3] From 1867 the word also names a breed of fancy pigeon.^[3][13] Johnson (1755) defined it as one of the highest order of angels, quoting Milton's "archangel ruin'd".^[15]

Timeline

• before 1200 – an angel of the highest rank.^[2][6]
• before 1398 – a member of the eighth order of angels.^[2]
• c. 1400 – a bird, perhaps a titmouse (obsolete).^[2][3]
• 1440 – the dead-nettle and similar plants.^[2][3]
• 1562 – the black horehound.^[3]
• 1855 – angelica.^[3]
• 1867 – a breed of fancy pigeon.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A chief angel, of a rank above the ordinary angels; in medieval angelology, a member of the eighth of the nine orders of the celestial hierarchy.^[13][5][12]
2. Any of several plants of the mint family, especially the dead-nettles, such as the yellow-flowered yellow archangel of European woods.^[13][5][12]
3. Angelica.^[13][5][3]
4. A breed of domestic pigeon with bronze and black plumage.^[13][3]

Word family

• archangelic

Related words

• angel
• angelic
• angelology
• arch-
• evangel

Usage notes

A separate noun Archangel, a bast mat used by gardeners to cover plants and frames (1854), is named after the Russian district and town of Archangel.^[3][16]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam