Word journey
The word angel
a messenger of God; a spiritual being
The journey
| Form | Language | Date | Sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| a-ke-ro | Mycenaean Greek · Ancient Greek Religion | 1,300 BCE | messenger (Linear B) |
| ángelos | Ancient Greek · Ancient Greek Religion | 700 BCE | messenger, envoy |
| mal'ākh | Biblical Hebrew · Judaism | 600 BCE | messenger, human or divine (root "to send") |
| ángelos | Koine Greek (Septuagint) · Judaism | 250 BCE | messenger of God, angel (rendering mal'akh) |
| angelus | Late Latin · Christianity | 400 CE | supernatural messenger (human ones became nuntius) |
| *angil | Proto-West Germanic (reconstructed) · Christianity | undated | angel; reconstructed early borrowing |
| engel / anġel | Old English · Christianity | 950 CE | angel |
What is certain and what is not
The Greek word may itself be a loan from the East (compare angaros, "Persian mounted courier"), per Beekes, but its origin is unknown. Its religious sense is a semantic loan from Hebrew mal'akh, which is a separate word from a different root.