prophet

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈprɒf.ɪt/, US /ˈprɑː.fɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French prophete and directly from Latin prophēta,^[2][3] from Greek προφήτης (prophḗtēs, “interpreter, spokesman of the gods”),^[2][3][4] from pro-, before, for, and the root of phánai, to speak.^[2][3][5] The Greek word translated Hebrew nābī in the Septuagint;^[3] early Latin writers used vātēs, but the Christian prophēta won out, probably because of vātēs's pagan associations.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who speaks for God, an inspired preacher, one who foretells: about 1175 in the OED, the late 12th century in Etymonline,^[6][3] probably before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle.^[2]

Semantic evolution

A prophetic writer of the Old Testament is from the late 14th century,^[3] and an inspired poet or bard, rendering Latin vātēs, from 1387.^[6] Muhammad has been called the Prophet since the 1610s, translating Arabic al-nabiy.^[3][6] The non-religious sense, an inspired spokesman for a cause or movement, is first recorded in 1848.^[2][3][6] Prophetic is from before 1475.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – one who speaks for God.^[6]
• 1387 – an inspired bard.^[6]
• before 1475 – prophetic.^[2]
• 1610s – the Prophet, Muhammad.^[3]
• 1848 – a spokesman for a cause.^[2][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person believed to speak by divine inspiration or to reveal the will of God.
2. A person who predicts the future: a prophet of doom.
3. A leading spokesman for a cause or movement.
4. the Prophet: Muhammad, the founder of Islam.

Word family

• prophethood
• prophetless
• prophetlike
• prophetic

Related words

• prophecy
• prophesy
• fame
• phone

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press