gospel

See also: Gospel, góspel, and gòspel

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒspəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑspəl/

  • Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

    (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gos‧pel

Etymology 1

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).

Noun

gospel (countable and uncountable, plural gospels)

1. The first section of the Christian New Testament scripture, comprising the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, concerned with the birth, ministry, passion, and resurrection of Jesus.
2. An account of those aspects of Jesus' life, generally written during the first several centuries of the Common Era.
3. (Protestantism) The teaching of Divine grace as distinguished from the Law or Divine commandments.
4. A message expected to have positive reception or effect, one promoted as offering important (or even infallible) guiding principles.
   • 1917, Oral Hygiene, volume 7, section title:

     Spreading the gospel of dental hygiene in Vermont

5. (uncountable) That which is absolutely authoritative (definitive).

   took her words for gospel

   • 1881, George Saintsbury, Dryden:

     If any one thinks this expression hyperbolical, I shall only ask him to read Edipus, instead of taking the traditional witticisms about Lee for gospel.

6. (uncountable) Gospel music.

Synonyms

• evangel

Derived terms

• antigospel
• bluegrass gospel
• contemporary gospel
• Gin and Gospel Gazette
• gospel bird
• gospel blues
• gospel-blues
• gospeler
• gospelesque
• gospelize
• gospeller
• gospel-like
• gospellike
• gospelmonger
• gospel music
• Gospel Oak
• gospelphile
• gospel side
• gospel truth
• gospely
• infancy gospel
• prosperity gospel
• protogospel
• Southern gospel

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: ゴスペル (gosuperu)

Translations

first section of New Testament

• Afrikaans: evangelie
• Aghwan: 𐕃𐕒𐕡𐔳𐔰𐕘𐔴𐕚𐕒𐕡𐕎 (ʒ́udaġesun)
• Albanian: ungjill (sq) m
• Arabic: إِنْجِيل (ar) m (ʔinjīl)
• Aramaic: אונגליון

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܸܘܲܢܓܸܠܝܼܘܿܢ (iwāngiliyun)

  Classical Syriac: ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ

  Turoyo: ܡܓܰܠܝܽܘܢ (mgalyūn)

• Armenian: ավետարան (hy) (avetaran)
• Asturian: evanxeliu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: incil
• Basque: ebanjelio
• Belarusian: ева́нгелле (be) n (jevánhjellje), еванге́лле (be) n (jevanhjéllje)
• Bengali: সুসমাচার (śuśomacar), গসপেল (gośpel), ইঞ্জীল (injīl)
• Bulgarian: ева́нгелие (bg) (evángelie)
• Burmese: ဧဝံဂေလိ (ewamgeli.)
• Caló: embeo m
• Catalan: evangeli (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎧᏃᎮᏓ (kanoheda)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 福音書／福音书 (fuk¹ jam¹ syu¹)

  Mandarin: 福音書／福音书 (zh) (fúyīnshū)

• Czech: evangelium (cs) n
• Danish: evangelium n
• Dutch: evangelie (nl) n
• Elfdalian: waundjila, ewandjilium
• Esperanto: evangelio (eo)
• Estonian: evangeelium
• Faroese: evangelium n
• Finnish: evankeliumi (fi)
• French: évangile (fr) f
• Friulian: vanzeli m
• Galician: evanxeo (gl) m
• Georgian: სახარება (saxareba)
• German: Evangelium (de) n

  Alemannic German: Efangeli n

• Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌴𐌻𐌾𐍉 f (aiwaggēljō)
• Greek: ευαγγέλιο (el) n (evangélio)

  Ancient: εὐαγγέλιον n (euangélion)

• Gujarati: ઇંજીલ (iñjīl), ઇઞ્જીલ (iñjīl)
• Hebrew: בְּשׂוֹרָה (he) f (bsorá)
• Hiligaynon: ebanhelyo
• Hindi: इंजील (hi) f (iñjīl), इञ्जील (hi) (iñjīl)
• Hungarian: evangélium (hu)
• Icelandic: guðspjall (is) n
• Indonesian: injil (id)
• Ingrian: jevangeli
• Irish: soiscéal m

  Old Irish: soiscélae n

• Istriot: vanzeîlio m
• Italian: vangelo (it) m
• Japanese: 福音書 (ja) (ふくいんしょ, fukuinsho)
• Kazakh: інжіл (ınjıl)
• Khmer: ដំណឹងល្អ (dɑmnəng lʼɑɑ)
• Korean: 복음서 (ko) (bogeumseo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: incîl (ku)

• Kyrgyz: инжил (ky) (injil)
• Ladino:

  Hebrew: איבֿאנגֿילייו m, בשורה f

  Latin: Evanjillio m, Besora f

• Lao: ຂ່າວປະເສີດ (khāo pa sœ̄t)
• Latin: evangelium n
• Latvian: evaņģēlijs m
• Lithuanian: evangelija (lt) f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Evangelium n

• Macedonian: евангелие n (evangelie)
• Malagasy: filazantsara (mg)
• Malay: injil
• Malayalam: സുവിശേഷം (ml) (suviśēṣaṁ), ഇഞ്ചീൽ (ml) (iñcīl) (Islam), ഇഞ്ജീൽ (ml) (iñjīl) (Islam, rarer)
• Maltese: evanġelju m
• Manx: sushtal m
• Maori: rongopai
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: евангелий (jevangeĺij), порувер (poruver)

• Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭩𐭦𐭣𐭢𐭲𐭠𐭰𐭩 (mizdagtāzīh)
• Mongolian: евангали (mn) (jevangali)
• Navajo: haneʼ yáʼátʼéehii
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: evangelium (no) n

• Occitan: evangèli (oc) m
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: єѵангєлїѥ n (eüangelije)

• Old English: godspell n
• Old Norse: guðspjall n
• Ottoman Turkish: انجیل (incil)
• Pashto: انجيل (ps) m (enǰíl)
• Persian: انجیل (fa) (enjil)
• Polish: ewangelia (pl) f
• Portuguese: evangelho (pt) m
• Romanian: evanghelie (ro) f
• Russian: ева́нгелие (ru) n (jevángelije)
• Sardinian: banzelu m, evagnelu m
• Scottish Gaelic: soisgeul
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јева̀нђе̄ље n, ева̀нђе̄ље n

  Roman: jevànđēlje (sh) n, evànđēlje (sh) n

• Sicilian: vancelu m
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: evanjelium n
• Slovene: vangelij
• Sogdian: ܡܘݍܕܘܤܐܩ (muždučāk), ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ (ewangelyōn)
• Spanish: evangelio (es) m, Buena Nueva
• Swahili: injili (sw)
• Swedish: evangelium (sv) n
• Tagalog: ebanghelyo, laygay
• Tajik: инҷил (injil)
• Tamil: இஞ்சீல் (ta) (iñcīl) (Islam)
• Tatar: инҗил (tt) (incil)
• Thai: พระวรสาร (prá-wá-rá-sǎan), พระกิตติคุณ (prá-gìt-dtì-kun)
• Turkish: İncil (tr)
• Turkmen: injil
• Ukrainian: єва́нгеліє n (jevánhelije), єванге́ліє n (jevanhélije)
• Urdu: انجیل f (injīl)
• Uyghur: ئىنجىل (ug) (injil)
• Uzbek: injil (uz)
• Venetan: vangeło m
• Vietnamese: phúc âm (vi)
• Walloon: evandjîle m
• Welsh: efengyl f
• Yiddish: עוואַנגעליע f (evangelye), עוואַנגעליום n (Evangelium)

account of the life, death, and teachings of Jesus

• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܸܘܲܢܓܸܠܝܼܘܿܢ (iwāngiliyun)
• Bulgarian: евангелие (bg) n (evangelie)
• Cherokee: ᎧᏃᎮᏓ (kanoheda)
• Chuukese: kapas allim
• Czech: evangelium (cs) n
• Danish: evangelium n
• Finnish: evankeliumi (fi)
• French: évangile (fr) f
• Galician: evanxeo (gl) m
• Georgian: ოთხთავი (otxtavi)
• German: Evangelium (de) n

  Alemannic German: Efangeli n

• Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌴𐌻𐌾𐍉 f (aiwaggēljō)
• Greek: ευαγγέλιο (el) n (evangélio)
• Hindi: इंजील (hi) (iñjīl), इञ्जील (hi) (iñjīl)
• Ingrian: jevangeli
• Irish: soiscéal m

  Old Irish: soiscél m, soiscélae

• Japanese: 福音 (ja) (ふくいん, fukuin)
• Kazakh: ізгі хабар (ızgı xabar)
• Low German:

  German Low German: Evangelium n

• Manx: sushtal m
• Maori: rongopai
• Old English: godspell n
• Ottoman Turkish: انجیل (incil)
• Polish: ewangelia (pl) f
• Portuguese: evangelho (pt) m
• Russian: ева́нгелие (ru) n (jevángelije)
• Scottish Gaelic: soisgeul
• Slovak: evanjelium n
• Swedish: evangelium (sv) n
• Ukrainian: єванге́ліє n (jevanhélije), єванге́лія f (jevanhélija)
• Yiddish: בשורת הגאולה (Besuras HaGeulah)

teaching of Divine grace

• Finnish: evankeliumi (fi), ilosanoma (fi)

message expected to have positive reception or effect

• Finnish: ilosanoma (fi)
• Hebrew: בְּשׂוֹרָה (he) f (bsorá)
• Yiddish: בשׂורה f (Besurah)

gospel music — see gospel music

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} ゴスペル (gosuperu)

Etymology 2

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

Verb

gospel (third-person singular simple present gospels, present participle gospelling or (US) gospeling, simple past and past participle gospelled or (US) gospeled)

1. (transitive) To instruct in, declare, or communicate the gospel; to evangelise.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Are you so gospelled, to pray for this good man and for his issue, whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave and beggared yours forever?

   • 2014, Caesar Kalinowski, Small Is Big, Slow Is Fast:

     I stood there wondering how often they had “gospeled” each other's hearts like this.

   • 2014, Trevor Joy, Spence Shelton, The People of God: Empowering the Church to Make Disciples:

     Hopefully you will get to the point where gospeling one another becomes a natural part of your language, and you will not need a set of phrases anymore.

   • 2021, Sarosh Koshy, Beyond Missio Dei, page 339:

     But the very act of “seeing” for anyone—both those within and beyond the fold of Christian communions—is possible only as a gospel being gospeled anew in and through the most pertinent issues of their particular contexts.

References

• “gospel”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “gospel”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• glopes, golpes

Finnish

Etymology

From English gospel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡospel/, [ˈɡo̞s̠pe̞l]
• Rhymes: -ospel
• Syllabification^(key): gos‧pel

Noun

gospel

1. (music) gospel

Declension

Inflection of gospel (Kotus type 6/paperi, no gradation)
nominative		gospel	gospelit
genitive		gospelin	gospelien gospeleiden gospeleitten
partitive		gospelia	gospeleita gospeleja
illative		gospeliin	gospeleihin
		singular	plural
nominative		gospel	gospelit
accusative	nom.	gospel	gospelit
	gen.	gospelin
genitive		gospelin	gospelien gospeleiden gospeleitten
partitive		gospelia	gospeleita gospeleja
inessive		gospelissa	gospeleissa
elative		gospelista	gospeleista
illative		gospeliin	gospeleihin
adessive		gospelilla	gospeleilla
ablative		gospelilta	gospeleilta
allative		gospelille	gospeleille
essive		gospelina	gospeleina
translative		gospeliksi	gospeleiksi
abessive		gospelitta	gospeleitta
instructive		—	gospelein
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of gospel (Kotus type 6/paperi, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative gospelini gospelini accusative nom. gospelini gospelini gen. gospelini genitive gospelini gospelieni gospeleideni gospeleitteni partitive gospeliani gospeleitani gospelejani inessive gospelissani gospeleissani elative gospelistani gospeleistani illative gospeliini gospeleihini adessive gospelillani gospeleillani ablative gospeliltani gospeleiltani allative gospelilleni gospeleilleni essive gospelinani gospeleinani translative gospelikseni gospeleikseni abessive gospelittani gospeleittani instructive — — comitative — gospeleineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative gospelisi gospelisi accusative nom. gospelisi gospelisi gen. gospelisi genitive gospelisi gospeliesi gospeleidesi gospeleittesi partitive gospeliasi gospeleitasi gospelejasi inessive gospelissasi gospeleissasi elative gospelistasi gospeleistasi illative gospeliisi gospeleihisi adessive gospelillasi gospeleillasi ablative gospeliltasi gospeleiltasi allative gospelillesi gospeleillesi essive gospelinasi gospeleinasi translative gospeliksesi gospeleiksesi abessive gospelittasi gospeleittasi instructive — — comitative — gospeleinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative gospelimme gospelimme accusative nom. gospelimme gospelimme gen. gospelimme genitive gospelimme gospeliemme gospeleidemme gospeleittemme partitive gospeliamme gospeleitamme gospelejamme inessive gospelissamme gospeleissamme elative gospelistamme gospeleistamme illative gospeliimme gospeleihimme adessive gospelillamme gospeleillamme ablative gospeliltamme gospeleiltamme allative gospelillemme gospeleillemme essive gospelinamme gospeleinamme translative gospeliksemme gospeleiksemme abessive gospelittamme gospeleittamme instructive — — comitative — gospeleinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative gospelinne gospelinne accusative nom. gospelinne gospelinne gen. gospelinne genitive gospelinne gospelienne gospeleidenne gospeleittenne partitive gospelianne gospeleitanne gospelejanne inessive gospelissanne gospeleissanne elative gospelistanne gospeleistanne illative gospeliinne gospeleihinne adessive gospelillanne gospeleillanne ablative gospeliltanne gospeleiltanne allative gospelillenne gospeleillenne essive gospelinanne gospeleinanne translative gospeliksenne gospeleiksenne abessive gospelittanne gospeleittanne instructive — — comitative — gospeleinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative gospelinsa gospelinsa accusative nom. gospelinsa gospelinsa gen. gospelinsa genitive gospelinsa gospeliensa gospeleidensa gospeleittensa partitive gospeliaan gospeliansa gospeleitaan gospelejaan gospeleitansa gospelejansa inessive gospelissaan gospelissansa gospeleissaan gospeleissansa elative gospelistaan gospelistansa gospeleistaan gospeleistansa illative gospeliinsa gospeleihinsa adessive gospelillaan gospelillansa gospeleillaan gospeleillansa ablative gospeliltaan gospeliltansa gospeleiltaan gospeleiltansa allative gospelilleen gospelillensa gospeleilleen gospeleillensa essive gospelinaan gospelinansa gospeleinaan gospeleinansa translative gospelikseen gospeliksensa gospeleikseen gospeleiksensa abessive gospelittaan gospelittansa gospeleittaan gospeleittansa instructive — — comitative — gospeleineen gospeleinensa

Derived terms

compounds

• gospelkuoro
• gospelmusa
• gospelmusiikki
• gospelrock

 

Further reading

• “gospel”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English gospel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔs.pɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

gospel m (plural gospels)

1. (music) gospel

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English gospel.

Noun

gospel m (invariable)

1. (music) gospel

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English gospel, from Middle English gospel, gospell, godspel, godspell, goddspell, from Old English godspell.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔs.pɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔspɛl
• Syllabification: gos‧pel

Noun

gospel m inan (indeclinable)

1. gospel music

Further reading

• gospel in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• gospel in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gospel.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔs.pew/ [ˈɡɔs.peʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔs.pew/ [ˈɡɔs.peʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔʃ.pew/ [ˈɡɔʃ.peʊ̯]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔʃ.pɛl/ [ˈɡɔʃ.pɛɫ]

• Hyphenation: gos‧pel

Noun

gospel m (uncountable)

1. (music) gospel music; gospel (a genre of African American religious music)

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English gospel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡospel/ [ˈɡos.pel]
• Rhymes: -ospel
• Syllabification: gos‧pel

Noun

gospel m (uncountable)

1. (music) gospel music