English
empyreal
Empyreal comes from Latin empyreus, and goes back to Ancient Greek ἐμπύριος ‘fiery’.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἐμπύριοςempúrios‘fiery’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEempyreus
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588empyreal
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἐμπύριοςempúrios‘fiery’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEempyreus
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588empyreal
Earliest quotation: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “The thirſt of raigne and ſweetnes of a crowne,…”
A compound of ἐν ‘en-’ + πῦρ ‘fire’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’
Ancient Greek ἐν ‘en-’
Proto-Indo-European *-wr̥ ‘Derives object nouns from verbal roots’
Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ ‘fire’
Proto-Hellenic *pāwər
Ancient Greek πῦρ ‘fire’
Every English word from Ancient Greek ἐμπύριος
Today it means
adj Pertaining to the highest heaven or the empyrean.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek ἐμπύριος / empyreal