evangelium

Forms

evangelium n (genitive evangeliī or evangelī); second declension^[1] The Rule of Benedict has a feminine evangelia, -ae.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, “good news; reward for good news”),^[3][4][1] from εὐάγγελος (euángelos, “bringing good news”), which is εὖ (eû, “well”) and ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger”).^[4] Cicero still wrote the Greek plural, in Greek letters, in his letters;^[3][2] as a Latin word it appears first in ecclesiastical writers.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian calls the Lord's Prayer breviarium totius evangelii, “a summary of the whole gospel”,^[2] in the Christian sense of the gospel.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Christian writers kept its literal sense “good news”: Augustine and Pelagius translate it as bona adnuntiatio or bonum nuntium.^[2] Its usual sense was the Christian message and doctrine, its preaching, and the written Gospels.^[2][3][1]

Medieval texts use it for the message of salvation, its preaching, orthodox doctrine, the text of a Gospel and the New Testament as a whole.^[6] Gildas writes of preaching the gospel of Christ throughout the world.^[7] English evangel came through Old French in the mid-14th century.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian calls the Lord's Prayer a summary of the whole gospel.^[2][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it throughout for the gospel.^[3][4]
• 529 AD – The Rule of Benedict uses the form evangelia.^[2][4]
• c. 510–570 AD – Gildas writes of preaching the gospel of Christ.^[7][4]
• mid-14th century – English borrows it, through Old French, as evangel.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) Good news.^[2][1]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The gospel, the Christian message of salvation; its preaching.^[2][6][5]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Orthodox Christian doctrine.^[2][6]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A Gospel, the text of the Gospel;^[3][6] (Medieval Latin) the New Testament.^[3][6]

Related words

• evangelicus
• evangelista
• evangelīzātor
• evangelīzō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com