Fwd: "Holy Ghost" - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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Date: Thu, May 20, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Subject: "Holy Ghost" - Word of the Day from the OED
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OED Online Word of the Day
________________________________

Holy Ghost

SECOND EDITION 1989

(hl gst)  [Properly two words (see HOLY a., GHOST 6), and so always
treated in OE., se hála gást, háli gást, but in ME. very generally as
a combination, haligast, holigost; since 1500 again usually written as
two words, but treated as a proper name or individual designation,
and, as such, taken as a whole in the transferred and derivative
uses.]

    1. The Divine Spirit; the Third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.

a900 Halsuncge in Durh. Rit. (Surtees) 114 Ic eow halsie on fæder
naman, and on suna naman..and on æs halan gastes. c1000 Ags. Gosp.
Matt. i. 20 Hyt ys of am halan gaste. c1160 Hatton G. Ibid., Hyt is of
an halen gaste. c1175 Lamb. Hom. 101 Efter es hala gastes to~cume.
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 119 us hie seen e holi gost on tungene euene.
a1225 Juliana 2 On his deorewure sunes nome, ant o es haligastes.
c1250 Gen. & Ex. 2428 Quuor ali gast stille hadde seid.. Quuor iesu
crist wulde ben boren. a1300 Cursor M. 19349 Wit haligast he has us
sent. c1320 Cast. Love 562 orw God e Holigostes miht. a1340 HAMPOLE
Psalter xvii. 13 e haly gast..at is makere of haly writ. 1377 LANGL.
P. Pl. B. XII. 141 For e heihe holigoste [v.r. hye holygost] heuene
shal to~cleue. c1394 P. Pl. Crede 836 A man..at myte wi his good lijf
at Holly Gost fongen. c1450 tr. De Imitatione III. vi. 70 e holigost e
comfortour. 1483 Cath. Angl. 171/2 e Halygaste, consolator,
paraclitus. 1535 JOYE Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 46 The holigost also before
yt declaring hym. 1548-9 Bk. Com. Prayer, Ordering Priests, Receiue
the holy goste. 1621 BURTON Anat. Mel. III. i. I. ii. (1651) 416 The
Holy Ghost is the love of the Father and the Son. 1627 J. COSIN tr.
9th c. Latin Hymn, Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire. a1699
STILLINGFL. Serm. III. v. (R.), He..bestowed these miraculous gifts of
the Holy-Ghost on the Apostles. 1842 TENNYSON St. Sim. Styl. 216 For
by the warning of the Holy Ghost, I prophesy that I shall die
to~night. 1875 MANNING Mission H. Ghost i. 1 The Spirit of the Lord is
God the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost fills the whole world.

    b. Order of the Holy Ghost, a French order of Knighthood (ordre du
Saint-Esprit), instituted by Henry III in 1578. So Knight of the Holy
Ghost; Cross of the Holy Ghost: see quot. 1727-41.

1686 J. SERGEANT Hist. Monast. Convent. 98 The Order of the Holy Ghost
in France was Instituted by Henry the Third, in memory of his
Nativity, Election to the Polonian Kingdom, and his coming to..the
Crown of France, all which hapned on Whitsunday. 1696 Lond. Gaz. No.
3241/3 Paris, Dec. 3... There is to be a Promotion of the Knights of
the Holy Ghost very suddenly. 1727-41 CHAMBERS Cycl. s.v., Before they
receive the order of the holy Ghost, that of S. Michael is conferred,
as a necessary step; for which reason their arms are surrounded with a
double collar. Ibid., Cross of the Holy Ghost, consists of a circle in
the middle, and on it the holy Ghost in figure of a dove: the four
arms are drawn narrow from the centre, and widening to the ends.. This
is the cross worn by the Knights of the order.

    2. a. The figure of a dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.    b.
The cross of the Order of the Holy Ghost: see 1b.

1520 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 180 Pro nova factura cujusdam nebulæ
pro lee Holy Goost. 1558 Will of M. Ellys (Somerset Ho.), Rynge of
golde wt a Holy goste in yt. 1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6404/1 His Star and
Holy Ghost were of Diamonds.

    3. (Also Holy Ghost's root.) The plant Angelica, Archangelica
officinalis. (Erroneously taken as Angelica sylvestris.)

1585 J. HIGINS tr. Junius' Nomenclator 136/2 Sphondylium..the holye
ghostes roote: Angelica. 1863 PRIOR Plant-n., Holy Ghost, so called
‘for the angel-like properties therein’. 1879 BRITTEN & HOLLAND
Plant-n., Holy Ghost, Arch~angelica officinalis.

    4. attrib., as in Holy Ghost flower, -plant, an orchid, Peristeria
elata, also called dove-plant, from the resemblance of part of the
flower to a dove; Holy Ghost pear = AVOCADO (from a mistaken rendering
of this as ‘advocate’).

1866 Treas. Bot., Holy Ghost Flower, Peristeria elata. 1882 Garden 10
June 401/3 The Dove plant..the beautiful Holy Ghost flower of the
Spaniards. 1885 A. BRASSEY The Trades 158 Specimens of the ‘Holy
Ghost’ orchid, with the little dove brooding in the centre. 1889 Cent.
Dict., Holy-Ghost pear.

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