Angel

 Angels

This week I learned about the origin of the word angel. I always thought angels were cool creatures when I would go to church. I loved looking at the paintings on the walls and the angels in the glass. I love seeing pictures of the Sistine Chapel and I would love to get to visit there once. 

In this blog post, Gawne explains that the word is borrowed from the Latin word angelus but because of the Great Vowel Shift the pronunciation of the word and it was influenced further by the french word angele. 

Angels also have a hierarchy of angels, and I remember learning about this in bible school. There are Cherubim, seraphim, and virtues powers and then archangels and angels. 

I always noticed that in these pictures there are angels who are always painted as White, but why are there not paintings or Black or Brown or Asian angels. And why do we make angels look like us?

Lastly, Gawne says that another old english origin for angel is the word aerendgast where aerend means "errand" and gast means "spirit". This is the role of angels like Michael, who was the angel who gave Mary the news about her carrying Jesus. The literal role of angels is to be Errand Spirits. 

Lauren Gawne. December 26 2022. Superlinguo. 

https://www.superlinguo.com/post/704645237660876800/christmas-words-angel