doxologia

Forms

doxologia f (genitive doxologiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek δοξολογία (doxología, “praise, glorification”),^[1][2] from δοξολόγος (doxológos, “giving or uttering praise”).^[1][3] The Greek word is made of δόξα (dóxa, “glory”) and λόγος (lógos, “word, speech”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates its first use to Heiric of Auxerre in the third quarter of the 9th century,^[4] who writes it in Greek letters for the hymn the seraphim sing in heaven, glossed as the Gloria in excelsis Deo.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It was a liturgical term for the praise of God, and especially the great doxology, the Gloria in excelsis.^[2] Albertus Magnus, translating the δοξολογίαν of Pseudo-Dionysius, explains it as speech about glory, since doxa means gloria.^[2] A verse Life of Saint Eusebia uses it of the new hymn that no one can sing whose life is not pure.^[5]

Ecclesiastical Latin keeps it for a doxology in general,^[6] and English took doxology from it in the 1640s.^[3]

Timeline

• third quarter of the 9th century – Heiric of Auxerre writes it in Greek letters for the hymn of the seraphim.^[2][4]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus explains it as the Gloria in excelsis Deo.^[2][4]
• 1640s – English borrows it as doxology.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A hymn or formula of praise to God, a doxology; in particular the Gloria in excelsis Deo.^[2][6][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson