eulogy

Etymology

It is first recorded as inherited from Middle English euloge,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Medieval Latin eulogium,^{[3][4][2][6][7][5]} or partly eulogia,^[8][9][7] from Ancient Greek εὐλογία (eulogía, “praise; in the New Testament, blessing”),^{[10][4][11][12]} from εὖ (eû, “well”) and -λογία (-logía, “speaking”),^[10][4][11] after the phrase εὖ λέγειν (eû légein, “to speak well of”).^[10][5][4] The Medieval Latin eulogium seems to have been altered under the influence of Latin ēlogium (“short saying; inscription on a tomb”),^{[3][7][9][13][12]} and the Oxford Dictionary of English takes that word from the Greek source of elegy.^[9] The OED treats the English noun as probably an anglicized eulogium.^[10] Hoad calls euloge a single early use, and takes the modern word separately in the 16th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Praise, commendation, also of the virtues of someone who has died: before 1475, in the Middle English I wylle apposse Thin wloge, yf hit do the apleyse.^[2][5] The modern form appears in 1591, as eulogies, in Spenser's Teares of the Muses, the OED's first record.^[10][5]

Semantic evolution

The Oxford Dictionary of English distinguishes the older sense, "high praise", from the current one, a speech or text of praise, which dates from the late 16th century.^[9][14] Spenser's use already belongs to this,^[10] and the OED notes in particular a set oration in honour of someone who has died.^[10] Johnson (1755) glossed it as "praise; encomium; panegyrick".^[15] The abstract sense, praising speech or commendation, is recorded again from 1725.^[10] In the 18th century the word was also used in church contexts for what is now historically called a eulogia (1709–82).^[10] The fuller Latin form, eulogium, came into English in 1706.^[10]

Timeline

• before 1475 – euloge, praise, commendation.^[2][5]
• 1591 – a speech or writing in commendation of a person or thing, in the plural eulogies.^[10][5]
• 1709 – in church use, a eulogia (obsolete by 1782).^[10]
• 1725 – praising speech, commendation.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A speech or piece of writing that praises a person or thing, especially a formal tribute to someone who has just died: Her brother delivered the eulogy at the funeral.^[13][3][10]
2. Commendation or high praise in general: The reviewers had nothing but eulogy for the novel.^[13][3][8]

Word family

• eulogistic
• eulogistically
• eulogise
• eulogize
• eulogist

Related words

• eulogia
• elegy
• eulogium
• elogium
• eloge
• -logy
• eu-
• legend

Usage notes

Collins warns against confusing the word with elegy, and Dictionary.com pairs the two as well.^[13][16]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House