Etymology

god-fearing

Today it means: Following the precepts of a religious practice; respecting and revering God and his authority. Full definition →

Middle English goddfrihti ← Old English godfyrht
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The story

  1. Old English · derived fromgodfyrht
  2. Middle English · derived fromgodfriht
  3. Middle English · derived fromgoddfrihti
  4. English todayGod-fearing

From God + fearing, likely a continuation (in altered form) of earlier Middle English goddfrihti, gode-frigti (“god-fearing”), variants of Middle English godfriht, gode-friht, godfruht, god-furht, from Old English godfyrht, godefriht (“god-fearing”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌲𐌿𐌳𐌰𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌷𐍄𐍃 (gudafaurhts, “god-fearing, devout”).

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishgoddfrihti all →

godfearing

Old Englishgodfyrht all →

godfearing

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.