empyrean

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin empȳreus, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek ἐμπύριος (empúrios), from ἐν (en, “in”) + πῦρ (pûr, “fire”) (English pyre).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛmˌpaɪˈɹiːn̩/, /ɛmˈpɪɹi.ən/

Noun

empyrean (plural empyreans)

1. The region of pure light and fire; the highest heaven, where the pure element of fire was supposed by the ancients to exist: the same as the ether, the ninth heaven according to ancient astronomy.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC:

     So sung they, and the Empyrean rung, / With Halleluiahs:

   • 1863, Alfred Tennyson, Experiments in Quantity

     the deep-domed empyrean / Rings to the roar of an angel onset

   • 1908, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, chapter I, in The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, Bristol: J[ames] W[illiams] Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company, →OCLC:

     The very empyrean seemed to be a secret.

Adjective

empyrean (not comparable)

1. of the sky or the heavens; celestially refined
   • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis

     In th’empyrean heaven, the bless’d abode, / The Thrones and the Dominions prostrate lie, / Not daring to behold their angry God.

   • 1700, Matthew Prior, Carmen Saeculare

     Yet upward she [the goddess] incessant flies; / Resolv’d to reach the high empyrean Sphere.

   • 1818, John Keats, Endymion

     Lispings empyrean will I sometimes teach / Thine honeyed tongue.

Synonyms

• empyreal

Translations

the highest heaven

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 重霄 (zh) (chóngxiāo)

• French: Empyrée (fr) m
• German: Empyreum (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἔμπυρος (émpuros)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: Empireo m
• Japanese: 火天 (かてん, katen)
• Latin: empȳreus
• Portuguese: empíreo m
• Russian: эмпирей (ru) (empirej)
• Spanish: empíreo m

Related terms

• pyre

References

• “empyrean”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “empyrean”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volumes II (D–Hoon), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.