εὐαγγελίζομαι

Forms

εὐαγγελίζομαι (euangelízomai), middle verb; imperfect εὐηγγελιζόμην, future εὐαγγελιοῦμαι, aorist εὐηγγελισάμην; with passive sense, aorist εὐηγγελίσθην and perfect εὐηγγέλισμαι.^[1][2] The active εὐαγγελίζω (euangelízō) appears only in later Greek: the Septuagint, Revelation, papyri.^[3][1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek εὐάγγελος (euángelos, “bringing good news”) with the verb suffix -ίζω (-ízō),^[2][3][4] itself a compound of εὖ (eû, “well”) and ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger”).^[5] Wiktionary derives the active from εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, “good news”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Aristophanes' Knights, where a speaker comes bringing good words and wants to be the first to announce the good news.^[3][5][7]

Semantic evolution

In Classical and Hellenistic Greek it means to bring good news of any kind, above all of victory or peace, brought from the battlefield by ship, horse, letter or runner: Lycurgus uses it of good fortune announced to the city, Theophrastus of the birth of a son, Plutarch of an election, Soranus of a midwife promising an easy delivery.^[5][3][2] A Sardis inscription of the 1st century BC uses the passive of a city receiving good tidings.^[3]

The Septuagint uses it to render the piel of Biblical Hebrew בָּשַׂר (bāśar), “bring good news”, and in Isaiah it announces the Messianic blessings.^[5][8][9] In the New Testament it becomes the verb for preaching the gospel, used of Jesus, the apostles and angels, with the message, the hearers or both as object; the passive means to have the gospel preached to one.^[2][1][3] Latin borrowed it as ēvangelizō, whence the English word evangelize, and Gothic both borrowed it and rendered it by a calque.^[6] Coptic took the word over as well.^[10]

In Modern Greek ευαγγελίζομαι (evangelízomai) is a learned word for announcing or promising something very welcome.^[11]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for bringing good news.^[3][2]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes and Lycurgus use it of announcing good fortune.^[3][2]
• 2nd century BC – The Septuagint's First Book of Kingdoms uses it for bringing news.^[7][12]
• 1st century BC – An inscription from Sardis uses the passive for a city receiving good news.^[3]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for preaching the gospel.^[1][2]
• Modern Greek – The learned ευαγγελίζομαι (evangelízomai) means to herald something welcome.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bring or announce good news, to someone, that something has happened.^[3][2]
2. (New Testament) To preach or proclaim the gospel; with an accusative of the message or of the hearers.^[2][1][3]
3. (passive) To receive good news; in the New Testament, to have the gospel preached to one, or of the gospel, to be preached.^[3][2]

Word family

• εὐαγγελιστής (euangelistḗs)
• προευαγγελίζομαι (proeuangelízomai)

Related words

• εὐάγγελος (euángelos)
• εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion)
• ἄγγελος (ángelos)
• Latin evangelizo
• English evangelize

References

1. ^ a b c d e Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
9. ^ Thayer, Joseph Henry (1889), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, New York: American Book Company
10. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft