Epiphany

Image by J Plenio, Pixabay

Etymonline, the trusty site for all things wordnerdy, tells me that ‘epiphany’ entered English in the early 14th century, meaning the ‘festival of the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles’ (celebrated January 6th). We inherited the word, via Old French & late Latin, from the late Greek epiphaneia "manifestation, striking appearance, or a festival held in commemoration of the appearance of a god at some particular place."  In the New Testament, it refers specifically to the "advent or manifestation of Christ", from epiphainein "to manifest, display, show off; come suddenly into view." The Greek word is built from epi "on, to" + phainein "to show/shine".

By the 1840’s, its meaning had broadened to encompass "any manifestation or revelation."

Happy Epiphany!