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 from 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

1. gospel

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	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