godspell

Old English

Alternative forms

godspel

Etymology

Analysed as God +‎ spell, literally “God-message”, an alteration of earlier gōdspell (“good news”), from gōd (“good”) +‎ spell (“message, news”), a calque of 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

Declension

Declension of godspell (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	godspell	godspell
accusative	godspell	godspell
genitive	godspelles	godspella
dative	godspelle	godspellum

Derived terms

godspellian (“evangelize”)
godspellere (“evangelist”)

Descendants

Middle English: gospel, gospell, godspel, godspell, goddspell
- English: gospel
→ Old Norse: guðspjall (calque)
- Icelandic: guðspjall

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