ἄγγελος

Forms

ἄγγελος (ángelos) m (genitive ᾰ̓γγέλου); second declension^[1] Mycenaean a-ke-ro.^[2][1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[3][4] Beekes and Chantraine think it is probably a loanword from the East, like ἄγγαρος (ángaros, “Persian mounted courier”), but its source cannot be identified.^[3][4][1] The old comparison with a Sanskrit name of mythical beings has been abandoned,^[3][4][5] and Klein suggested a Semitic source.^[5][1] The word is already found on the Mycenaean tablets, as Mycenaean Greek a-ke-ro.^[2][4]

The verb ἀγγέλλω (angéllō, “to announce”) and the noun ἀγγελία (angelíā, “message”) belong with it.^[4][6] The Etymologicum Magnum derived it from ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”), as εἴκελος (eíkelos) comes from εἴκω (eíkō).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

On the Mycenaean tablets Mycenaean Greek a-ke-ro is a messenger.^[2][4] In Homer the word means a messenger or envoy, and it is often used of the messengers of the gods, above all of Iris.^[4][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Already in Homer it is used of birds of omen, which bring a message from the gods,^[8][10] and later poets call a beacon a voiceless messenger, the swallow the messenger of spring, the nightingale the messenger of Zeus and the poet the messenger of the Muses.^[8][10] Herodotus speaks of dealing with someone “through messengers”,^[8] and Menander's “Arabian messenger” was a proverb for a chatterbox.^[8]

The Septuagint used it both for a human messenger and for the messenger of God, translating Biblical Hebrew מַלְאָךְ (mal'ākh);^[11][5] in the New Testament it is a human envoy, sent by people or by God, and a heavenly being who carries out God's tasks, an angel.^[12][10] Late philosophy used it for semi-divine beings.^[4] The Christian word was borrowed into Latin angelus, Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌿𐍃 (aggilus), Coptic ⲁⲅⲅⲉⲗⲟⲥ (aggelos) (from about AD 350) and Old Church Slavonic анг҄елъ (angʹjelŭ).^[1][13] English angel is a fusion of Old English engel and Old French angele, both from Late Latin angelus.^[5]

Medieval Greek used it for the invisible spirits who serve God.^[14] In Modern Greek άγγελος (ángelos) means an angel; the sense “messenger”, and the messenger of ancient drama, is a learned revival of the ancient one.^[15]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – The tablets have Mycenaean Greek a-ke-ro, “messenger”.^[2][4]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it for messengers, often of the gods.^[9][4][16]
• 6th century BC – Theognis calls the poet the messenger of the Muses.^[8][10][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus speaks of dealing with someone through messengers.^[8][2]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Menander's “Arabian messenger” is a proverb for a talkative person.^[8][2]
• Septuagint – It is used both for messengers and for angels (Genesis 16:7).^[11]
• New Testament – It means a messenger sent by God, an angel.^[12][10]
• 4th century AD – The earliest Coptic manuscripts with the borrowed word date from about 350.^[13]
• c. 1300 – English angel appears, from Old English and Old French forms of Latin angelus.^[5]
• Modern Greek – άγγελος means “angel”, and, as a learned word, “messenger”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A messenger, envoy; one sent by a person or a god.^[8][10]
2. Anything that brings news or announces something: a bird of omen, a beacon, a poet (the messenger of the Muses), the tongue.^[8][10]
3. (Septuagint, New Testament) A messenger of God, an angel.^[11][12][10]
4. (late philosophy) A semi-divine being.^[4]

Word family

• ἀγγελία (angelíā)
• ἀγγέλλω (angéllō)
• εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion)
• ψευδάγγελος (pseudángelos)
• ἀρχάγγελος (arkhángelos)
• εὐαγγελίζω (euangelízō)

Related words

• ἄγγαρος (ángaros)
• Latin angelus
• English angel
• English evangelist

Usage notes

Ammonius distinguishes three words: an ἄγγελος reports what happens outside, an ἐξάγγελος (exángelos) reports to those outside what happens inside, and an αὐτάγγελος (autángelos) brings his own news rather than someone else's.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
7. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
11. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
12. ^ a b c 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
13. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
14. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
15. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
16. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
17. ^ [Ammonius], De adfinium vocabulorum differentia, ed. K. Nickau (Leipzig: Teubner, 1966)