divinity

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English divinite, also devinite,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French devinité, also divinité,^[3][5][2] recorded in Old French from the 12th century, in the sense "theology".^[3][5] The Anglo-Norman word, recorded from 1113–19, already meant godhead, theology and Scripture.^[6] The French word is from Latin dīvīnitās (“godhead, divine nature; divination”),^[3][5][7][8] formed from dīvīnus (“of a god”) and the suffix -itās,^[4][3] from dīvus (“of or belonging to a god”), related to deus (“god”), from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“to shine; sky, god”).^[5] In the Vulgate the Latin word rendered the Greek terms for divine nature and godhead.^[9] Klein explains the first vowel of the Old French form as a dissimilation, from a Vulgar Latin *dēvīnitās.^[10] It is related to divine and deity.^[10][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The science of divine things, theology: about 1305, in a Middle English life of St Edmund the Confessor.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The sense "theology" came first, as in Old French;^[3][5] in the late 14th century Chaucer used the word for the quality of being divine, the Godhead, and for a divine being, a god.^[3][5][2] From the early 16th century it also meant godlike quality or power, as in the line in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, "There is divinity in odd numbers",^[9][3] and, since 1659, figuratively an object of adoration.^[3] A rare sense "divination" is recorded from Caxton (1481) to 1601.^[3][9] The theological sense lives on in university titles such as Bachelor of Divinity and divinity school.^[9][11] In North America divinity, in full divinity fudge, became the name of a white candy made by pouring hot sugar syrup into beaten egg whites, often with nuts, recorded from 1913;^[12][9][7] the Dictionary of American Regional English thinks it was probably named for its "divine" flavour.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1305 – theology, the science of divine things.^[3][5]
• c. 1374 – the quality of being divine; godhead, in Chaucer's Boece.^[3]
• c. 1386 – a divine being, a god, and the Divinity, God.^[3]
• 1481 – divination (rare, obsolete by 1601).^[3]
• c. 1528 – divine quality or power, in Everyman.^[3]
• 1659 – an object of adoration.^[3]
• 1669 – the theological systems of non-Christian peoples or philosophers.^[3]
• 1913 – a candy of beaten egg whites and sugar syrup.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being divine; divine nature: They debated the divinity of the emperor.^[4][11][7]
2. A divine being, such as a god or goddess, or, as the Divinity, God.^[4][11][7]
3. Theology, especially as a subject of study: a degree in divinity.^[4][11][9]
4. Godlike character, quality or power.^[7][9][3]
5. A soft white candy made of whipped egg whites and sugar, usually with nuts; also called divinity fudge.^[13][7][9]
6. (obsolete, 1481–1601) Divination.^[3][9]

Word family

• nondivinity
• divinity school

Related words

• divine
• deity
• divinize
• Jove
• Zeus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
13. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster