epistle

Definition

A literary composition in the form of a letter or series of letters, especially one in verse.

Etymology

PIE word *h₁epi The noun is derived from Middle English epistel, epistole, pistel (“letter; literary work in letter form; written legend or story; spoken communication; (Christianity) one of the letters by an apostle in the New Testament; extract from such a letter read as part of the Mass”) [and other forms], and then partly: * from Old English epistol, epistola, pistol (“letter, epistle”), from Latin epistola (“letter, epistle; literary work in letter form”) (whence Late Latin epistola (“one of the letters by an apostle in the New Testament”)), from Ancient Greek ἐπῐστολή (epĭstolḗ, “letter; message”), from ἐπῐστέλλω (epĭstéllō, “to inform by, or to send, a letter or message”) (from ἐπῐ- (epĭ-, prefix meaning ‘on, upon’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at; near; on”)) + στέλλω (stéllō, “to dispatch, send”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to locate; to place, put”))) + -η (-ē, suffix forming action nouns); and * from Anglo-Norman epistle, and Middle French epistle, epistele, epistole (“letter; (Christianity) one of the letters by an apostle in the New Testament; extract from such a letter read as part of the Mass”) (modern French épître), from Latin epistola (see above). The verb is derived from the noun.

Example Sentences

• "[Y]our Grace ſhal herein perceiue a nevv faſhion of diſcourſe, by Epistles; nevv to our language, uſual to others: and (as Noueltie is neuer vvithout ſome plea of vſe) more free, more familiar."
• "For in this Addreſs to your Lordſhip, I deſign not a Treatiſe of Heroick Poetry, but vvrite in a looſe Epiſtolary vvay, ſomevvhat tending to that Subject, after the Example of Horace, in his Firſt Epiſtle of the Second Book to Auguſtus Cæſar, and of that to the Piſo’s, vvhich vve call his Art of Poetry."
• "But let our poet, while he writes epistles, though never so familiar, still remember that he writes in verse, and must for that reason have a more than ordinary care not to fall into prose and a vulgar diction, excepting where the nature and humour of the thing does necessarily require it."

Related Words