Etymologically
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gospel

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɡɒspəl/ (UK); /ˈɡɑspəl/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English gōdspel (“good news”),[2][3][4] from gōd (“good”) and spel (“story, message”) (see spell),[2][3][5] a translation of ecclesiastical Latin bona annuntiatio, itself a translation of Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, “good news”) (see evangel).[3][6][4] The first vowel was originally long, but it shifted by mistaken association with God, as if a “God-story”.[3][7] The word passed early to the continental Germanic languages with God as its first element, as in Old Saxon godspell.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The good tidings of the kingdom of God announced by Christ: about 950 in the OED, about 750, in Cynewulf's Elene, in Barnhart.[8][2]

Semantic evolution

One of the four books of the evangelists is from about 1200, and the portion of a gospel read at the Eucharist from about 1000.[8][5] Something as true as the gospel is from the 13th century, and a doctrine to swear by from the 17th.[5] Protestants identified it with their own system of belief from 1552.[8] Gospel music, a fervent style of African-American evangelical religious music, is recorded as gospel from 1956.[8][9]

Timeline

  • c. 950 – the good tidings of Christ.[8]
  • c. 1000 – the Gospel reading.[8]
  • c. 1200 – one of the four books.[8]
  • 13th century – absolute truth.[5]
  • 1956 – gospel music.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The teaching or revelation of Christ.
  2. (Gospel) Any of the first four books of the New Testament, or a reading from one.
  3. Something accepted as absolutely true: took it as gospel.
  4. A principle or set of beliefs that someone promotes eagerly.
  5. A fervent style of African-American religious music.

Word family

  • gospelly
  • gospeler
  • nongospel
  • Social Gospel
  • gospel music
  • gospel side
  • gospel truth
  • evangel
  • evangelist
  • spell
  • good

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins