gospel

See also: Gospel and góspel

English

Pronunciation

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

Etymology

From Middle English gospel, gospell, godspel, godspell, goddspell, from Old English godspel (“gospel, glad tidings; one of the four gospels”), corresponding to good +‎ spell (“talk, tale, story”), literally “the message of God or Christ”, believed to be an alteration of earlier *gōdspell (literally “good news”), used to translate ecclesiastical Latin bona annuntiatio, itself a translation of Ecclesiastical Latin evangelium / Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, “evangel”, literally “good news”) (English evangel). Compare Old Saxon godspel, godspell (“gospel”), Old High German gotspel (“gospel”), Icelandic guðspjall (“gospel”).

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 life, crucifixion, death, resurrection, and teachings of Jesus.
2. An account of the life, crucifixion, death, resurrection, and teachings of Jesus, 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 infalliable) 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).
   • Saintsbury

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

6. (uncountable) Gospel music.

Synonyms

• evangel

Derived terms

• antigospel
• bluegrass gospel
• contemporary gospel
• gospel bird
• gospel blues
• gospeler
• gospelesque
• gospelize
• gospeller
• gospellike
• gospel-like
• gospelmonger
• gospel music
• gospelphile
• gospel truth
• gospely
• prosperity gospel
• protogospel
• Southern gospel

 

Translations

first section of New Testament

• Afrikaans: evangelie
• Albanian: ungjill (sq) m
• Arabic: إِنْجِيل‎ m (ʾinjīl)
• Aramaic: אונגליון‎
• Armenian: ավետարան (hy) (avetaran)
• Asturian: evanxeliu m
• Azerbaijani: incil
• Basque: ebanjelio
• Belarusian: ева́нге́лле (be) n (jevánhjéllje)
• Bengali: সুসমাচার (susômacar), গসপেল (gôspel)
• Bulgarian: ева́нгелие (bg) (evángelie)
• Burmese: ဧဝံဂေလိ (ewamgeli.)
• Catalan: evangeli (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 福音書, 福音书 (fuk¹ jam¹ syu¹)

  Mandarin: 福音書 (zh), 福音书 (zh) (fúyīnshū)

• Classical Syriac: ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ‎
• Czech: evangelium (cs) n
• Danish: evangelium n
• Dutch: evangelie (nl) n
• Erzya: ёнгуля (jongulja)
• Esperanto: evangelio (eo)
• Estonian: evangeelium
• Faroese: evangelium n
• Finnish: evankeliumi (fi)
• French: évangile (fr) f
• Friulian: vanzeli m
• Galician: evanxeo m
• Georgian: სახარება (saxareba)
• German: Evangelium (de) n

  Alemannic German: Efangeli n

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

  Ancient Greek: εὐαγγέλιον n (euangélion)

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

  Old Irish: soiscél m, soiscélae n

• Istriot: vanzeîlio m
• Italian: vangelo (it) m
• Japanese: 福音書 (ふくいんしょ, fukuinsho)
• Kazakh: інжіл (injil)
• Khmer: ដំណឹងល្អ (dɑmnəŋ l’ɑɑ)
• Korean: 복음서 (ko) (bogeumseo)
• Kyrgyz: инжил (ky) (incil)
• 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
• Maltese: evanġelju m
• Manx: sushtal m
• Maori: rongopai
• 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 Norse: guðspjall n
• 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: јеванђеље n, ева̀нђе̄ље n

  Roman: jevanđelje (sh) n, ^{(please verify)} 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
• Swahili: injili (sw)
• Swedish: evangelium (sv) n
• Tagalog: ebanghelyo, laygay
• Tajik: инҷил (injil)
• Tatar: инҗил (tt) (incil)
• Thai: พระวรสาร (prá-won-săan)
• Turkish: İncil (tr)
• Turkmen: injil
• Ukrainian: єва́нге́ліє n (jevánhélije), єванге́ліє n (jevanhélije)
• Urdu: انجیل‎ (injīl)
• Uzbek: injil (uz)
• Venetian: vangeło m
• Vietnamese: phúc âm (vi)
• Walloon: evandjîle m
• Welsh: efengyl f
• Westrobothnian: vannjilj f, vanndʒeli f
• Yiddish: עוואַנגעליע‎ f (evangelye)

account of the life, death, and teachings of Jesus

• Bulgarian: евангелие (bg) n (evangelie)
• Chuukese: kapas allim
• Czech: evangelium (cs) n
• Danish: evangelium n
• Finnish: evankeliumi (fi)
• French: évangile (fr) f
• Georgian: ოთხთავი (otxtavi)
• German: Evangelium (de) n

  Alemannic German: Efangeli n

• Greek: ευαγγέλιο (el) n (evangélio)
• Hindi: इंजील (hi) (iñjīl)
• Irish: soiscéal m

  Old Irish: soiscél m, soiscélae

• Low German:

  German Low German: Evangelium n

• Manx: sushtal m
• Maori: rongopai
• 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)

teaching of Divine grace

message expected to have positive reception or effect

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

• Polish: ^{(please verify)} dobra nowina f

gospel music — see gospel music

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

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

Verb

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

1. (obsolete, transitive) To instruct in the gospel.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Citations

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:gospel.

References

• “gospel” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “gospel” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

Anagrams

• glopes, golpes

---

Finnish

Etymology

From English gospel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡospel/, [ˈɡo̞s̠pe̞l]

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
instructive		—	gospelein
abessive		gospelitta	gospeleitta
comitative		—	gospeleineen

---

French

Etymology

From English gospel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔs.pɛl/

Noun

gospel m (plural gospels)

1. (music) gospel

---

Italian

Etymology

From English gospel.

Noun

gospel m (invariable)

1. (music) gospel

---

Portuguese

Etymology

From English gospel.

Noun

gospel m (uncountable)

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

---

Spanish

Etymology

From English gospel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡosˈpel/

Noun

gospel m (uncountable)

1. (music) gospel music