apocalypse English · revision 2396

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /əˈpɒkəlɪps/ ''(UK)''; /əˈpɑkəlɪps/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|apocalipse|t=revelation]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) [[bor|xno|apocalipse]],^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995) [[der|la-ecc|apocalypsis|t=revelation]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) [[der|grc|ἀποκάλυψις|tr=apokálupsis|t=uncovering, revelation]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995) from ''apokalúptein'' “to uncover, reveal”,^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline) [[af|grc|ἀπο-|καλύπτειν|tr1=apo-|tr2=kalúptein|t1=off, away|t2=to cover, conceal]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(RHWU) [[der|ine-pro|*kel-|t=to cover, conceal]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The revelation granted to St John on Patmos, and the New Testament book that records it.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) The OED's first quotation is from c1175;^(OED 1989) Etymonline cites ''pocalipsis'' from c. 1050 and ''Apocalypse'' from c. 1230.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By the late 14th century it meant any revelation or disclosure,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and in Middle English also “vision, hallucination”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) Because the Book of Revelation was often read as an account of the end of the world, the word came to mean a violent end of the world by 1940,^(Etymonline) and then any great disaster.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) Etymonline notes that this general sense was not yet in the 1989 OED.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c1050 – ''pocalipsis'', title of the Book of Revelation.^(Etymonline)

+ * c1175 – the Apocalypse of St John.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1382 – any revelation or disclosure.^(OED 1989)

+ * c1384 – a vision or hallucination.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1940 – the violent end of the world.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(capitalized)'' The Book of Revelation.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Any of the Jewish and Christian writings of about 200 BC to AD 150 or later that reveal, in symbolic visions, an imminent cosmic catastrophe and the triumph of the righteous.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+ # Great or total devastation; a large-scale disaster.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A prophetic revelation.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[apocalyptic]]

+ * [[apocalypticism]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[calypso]]

+ * [[eucalyptus]]

+ * [[revelation]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}