gospel

gospel · noun¹

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromεὐαγγέλιον“evangel”
2. Ecclesiastical Latin · derived fromēvangelium
3. Old English · derived fromgodspell“gospel”
4. Middle English · derived fromgospel
5. English todaygospel

From Middle English gospel, gospell, godspel, godspell, goddspell, from Old English godspell (“gospel”), corresponding to God + spell (“talk, tale, story”), literally “the message of God”, believed to be an alteration of earlier *gōdspell (literally “good news”), used to translate ecclesiastical Latin bona annūntiātiō, itself a translation of Ecclesiastical Latin ēvangelium / Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, “evangel”, literally “good news”) (English evangel). Compare Old Saxon gōdspel and godspell (“gospel”), Old High German and Middle High German gotspel (“gospel”), Icelandic guðspjall (“gospel”), and the modern calque Malayalam സുവിശേഷം (suviśēṣaṁ).

gospel · verb²

1. Old English · inherited fromgodspellian“to preach the gospel, evangelise”
2. Middle English · inherited fromgospellen
3. English todaygospel

From Middle English gospellen, from Old English godspellian (“to preach the gospel, evangelise”), from the noun (see above).

Words from the same roots