gospel

See also: Gospel, góspel, and gòspel

English

Etymology

From Middle English gospel, gospell, godspel, godspell, goddspell, from Old English godspell (“gospel”), corresponding to good +‎ 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 godspel, godspell (“gospel”), Old High German gotspel (“gospel”), Icelandic guðspjall (“gospel”).

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gos‧pel

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
• gospel bird
• gospel blues
• gospeler
• gospelesque
• gospelize
• gospeller
• gospel-like
• gospellike
• gospelmonger
• gospel music
• Gospel Oak
• gospelphile
• gospel truth
• gospely
• 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 (ʾinjīl)
• Aramaic: אונגליון‎

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic ܐܸܘܲܢܓܸܠܝܼܘܿܢ‎ (iwāngiliyun)

• Armenian: ավետարան (hy) (avetaran)
• Asturian: evanxeliu m
• Azerbaijani: incil
• Basque: ebanjelio
• Belarusian: ева́нгелле (be) n (jevánhjellje), еванге́лле (be) n (jevanhjéllje)
• Bengali: সুসমাচার (susmacar), গসপেল (gôspel), 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 (zh), 福音书 (zh) (fúyīnshū)

• Classical Syriac: ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ‎
• Czech: evangelium (cs) n
• Danish: evangelium n
• Dutch: evangelie (nl) n
• Elfdalian: waundjila, ewandjilium
• 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 f (aiwaggēljō)
• Greek: ευαγγέλιο (el) n (evangélio)

  Ancient: εὐαγγέλιον n (euangélion)

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

  Old Irish: soiscélae n

• Istriot: vanzeîlio m
• Italian: vangelo (it) m
• Japanese: 福音書 (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)
• 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 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)
• 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)
• 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

• 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 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)
• Irish: soiscéal m

  Old Irish: soiscél m, soiscélae

• 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)

teaching of Divine grace

message expected to have positive reception or effect

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

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)

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.
   • 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 606515358, (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?

References

• “gospel”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “gospel”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• glopes, golpes

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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
instructive		—	gospelein
abessive		gospelitta	gospeleitta
comitative		—	gospeleineen

Possessive forms of gospel (type paperi)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	gospelini	gospelimme
2nd person	gospelisi	gospelinne
3rd person	gospelinsa

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French

Etymology

From English gospel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔs.pɛl/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

gospel m (plural gospels)

1. (music) gospel

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English gospel.

Noun

gospel m (invariable)

1. (music) gospel

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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

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Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gospel.

Noun

gospel m (uncountable)

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

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Spanish

Etymology

From English gospel.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

gospel m (uncountable)

1. (music) gospel music