epistle

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪˈpɪs.əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is partly inherited from Old English epistol, pistol, from Latin, and partly inherited from Middle English epistle, epistel,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French epistle, epistre (modern French épître),^[6][3][2][4] from Latin epistola, epistula (“letter”),^[6][3][2][7] from Ancient Greek ἐπιστολή (epistolḗ, “message, letter, command”),^[6][3][2][7] from ἐπιστέλλειν (epistéllein, “to send to, send as a message”),^[6][3][2][7] from ἐπί (epí, “to”) (see epi-) and στέλλειν (stéllein, “to make ready, send”),^[6][2][7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to put, stand, put in order”).^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A letter, a written communication to someone absent (c. 893 in the OED, in Old English); in Middle English, one of the apostolic letters of the New Testament (probably before 1200 in Barnhart).^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

Because it was used in translations of Latin and Greek, the word was applied chiefly to letters of ancient times or to formal letters.^[9] From about 1385 it named a literary work, usually a poem, written in the form of a letter,^[9][5] such as the verse letters of Horace.^[5] In church use the Epistle is the reading from one of the New Testament letters at the Eucharist (c. 1440).^[9][10] The aphetic form pistle was common in Middle English.^[11][4]

Timeline

• c. 893 – Old English epistol, a letter.^[9]
• before 1200 – an apostolic letter.^[3][9]
• c. 1385 – a literary work in letter form.^[9]
• c. 1440 – the liturgical reading.^[9]
• 1656 – epistolary.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A letter, especially a long, formal or didactic one.
2. A literary composition in the form of a letter, often in verse.
3. One of the letters of the apostles included as books in the New Testament; usually capitalized.
4. A reading from one of these letters, forming part of a Christian service.

Word family

• epistoler
• epistle side
• Pastoral Epistle

Related words

• epistolary
• epistolic
• epistolize
• epistolography
• apostle
• stall
• stele

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray