godspell
Middle English
Noun
godspell
- (especially Early Middle English) alternative form of gospel
Old English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Analysed as God + spell, literally “God-message”, an alteration of earlier gōdspell (“good news”), from gōd (“good”) + spell (“message, news”), a calque from Ecclesiastical Latin bona annūntiātiō or bonus nūntius, which was a then-current explanation of the meaning of Ecclesiastical Latin ēvangelium, from Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, “good news”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡodˌspell/, [ˈɡodˌspeɫ]
Noun
godspell n
- gospel
- Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church
- Đā ġelǣredan ne beðurfon þyssera bōca, forðan ðe him mæġ heora āgen lār genihtsumian. Iċ cweðe nū þæt iċ næfre heonon forð ne āwende godspel oððe godspeltrahtas of Lēdene on Englisċ.
- The learned have no need of these books, for their own learning will suffice. I say now that henceforth, I will never translate a gospel or a gospel-commentary from Latin into English.
- Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church
Declension
Strong a-stem:
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | godspell | godspell |
| accusative | godspell | godspell |
| genitive | godspelles | godspella |
| dative | godspelle | godspellum |
Derived terms
- godspellbōc (“a copy of the Gospels”)
- godspellbodung (“Gospel preaching”)
- godspellere (“evangelist”)
- godspellian (“evangelize”)
- godspellīċ (“relating to the Gospels”)
- godspellisċ (“evangelical”)
- godspelltraht