heavenly

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hevenli,^[2][3] inherited from Old English heofonlīc,^[4][5][2][3] formed from Old English heofon + -līc, that is, heaven and -ly.^[4][6][7] The OED compares Middle Dutch hemellijc and Old Swedish himilliker,^[6] and Bosworth–Toller compares Old High German himillīh (“heavenly”).^[8] The adverb goes back to heofonlīce, from the adjective,^[4][3][2] and the OED compares Old Saxon himillīko.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or belonging to heaven as the abode of God: in the Old English Blickling Homilies,^[6] and Dictionary.com dates the word to before 1000.^[5] It translated Latin caelestis in the Gospels, as in se heofenlíca Fæder, the heavenly Father (Matthew 18:35).^[8]

Semantic evolution

Old English already had the three central uses: belonging to God's heaven, divine or holy, and, in Ælfric's Hexameron, belonging to the sky.^[6] Only the last has narrowed, and the OED says it now lives chiefly in the phrase heavenly body,^[6] which Etymonline records from the late 14th century.^[7] By 1393, in Gower, it was also used of the abode of non-Christian gods,^[6][2] and of beauty or excellence beyond the human.^[6][7] Etymonline adds that this praise was often, though not at first, connected with the "music of the spheres".^[7] The word then weakened to a colloquial "excellent, very pleasant": the OED's first example is from 1831, while Etymonline has the use only by 1874.^[6][7] Johnson (1755) put "supremely excellent" first and "celestial" second.^[9] The word was regularly two syllables in lyrics and poetry of the 17th and 18th centuries,^[7] and Johnson's quotations from Dryden print it heav'nly.^[9] In the plural, the heavenlies was first a literal rendering of Ancient Greek τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις (toîs epouraníois) in Ephesians 1:3 and 3:10.^[6][10]

Timeline

• before 1000 – of heaven as the abode of God; divine, holy; of the sky.^[5][6]
• Old English – adverb, in a heavenly manner; also noun, in the plural, heavenly things (obsolete).^[6]
• before 1393 – of the abode of non-Christian gods; of more than earthly beauty or excellence.^[6][7]
• late 14th century – heavenly bodies, stars and planets.^[7]
• before 1586 – adverb, to an immense distance, especially heavenly wide.^[6][10]
• 1616 – the heavenlies, the regions of heaven.^[6]
• 1831 – colloquial, excellent, very pleasant.^[6] Etymonline dates this to 1874.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Informal: very pleasing; delightful or wonderful: a heavenly smell of baking bread.^[11][4][6]
2. Of or in the sky or outer space; celestial: a heavenly body.^[11][4][6]
3. Of, living in or belonging to the heaven of God or the gods.^[4][6]
4. Coming from or suited to heaven; divine or holy.^[11][4][6]

Noun

1. the heavenlies, in the plural: the regions of heaven, or heavenly things.^[6][10]

Adverb

1. In a heavenly manner or degree; supremely: She sang heavenly sweet.^[4][6]
2. From or by the action of heaven.^[4][6][10]

Word family

• heavenliness
• unheavenly
• heavenly body
• heavenly-minded

Related words

• heaven
• -ly

References

1. ^ 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 Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins