This week’s theme
Words from religion

This week’s words
gospel
messiah
apocalypse
exodus
crusade

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(muh-SY-uh)

MEANING:

noun: A savior, liberator, or leader of a group or a cause.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin messias, from Greek messias, from Hebrew mashia (anointed), from Aramaic masiah (the anointed one), from masah (to anoint). Ultimately from the Semitic root msh (to anoint), which also gave us massage and masseur. Earliest documented use: 450.

NOTES:

Someone anointed is one on whom a liquid is smeared, literally speaking. The word anoint is from unguere (to smear), which also gave us ointment and unctuous. In a religious context, the liquid is typically some plant-based oil applied to a person to consecrate them or make them sacred. In Christianity, the Messiah or the anointed one is Jesus Christ (from Greek christos: anointed). In Judaism, it’s a king sent by God to save the Jews -- notably, King David. In MAGAism, the anointing is done with a fake sprayed-on tan in a bright orange.

USAGE:

“The Cult of the Shining City ... raised Trump on high like a faulty messiah, and as they lauded him with titles like ‘chosen one’, his blasphemous word became living gospel.”
Jared Yates Sexton; Failing Upward: The Donald Trump Story; The Progressive (Madison, Wisconsin); Oct/Nov 2020.

See more usage examples of messiah in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: