entry
anointed
/əˈnɔɪntɪd/Marked by oil, blessing, or sacred appointment
From Latin, through Old French anoint (To smear with oil).
from Old French enoint , Latin inunctum . The noun meaning "a consecrated one" (as in Lord's Anointed ) is...
Word Ancestry
from Old French enoint , Latin inunctum . The noun meaning "a consecrated one" (as in Lord's Anointed ) is...
In the ancient world, oil was not merely something for a salad or a squeaky hinge: fragrant oil could perfume a guest, soothe a wound, and signal that a god—or a king—had entered the room. Latin called the act inungĕre, “to smear on,” whose past participle inunctum traveled into Old French as enoint and eventually became English anointed. The religious sense grew from the physical one: pouring oil over someone’s head made that person visibly set apart, whether as monarch, priest, or divinely chosen figure. This is why Messiah and Christ are near twins in meaning: Hebrew mashiah means “anointed,” while Greek khristos means the same thing. And the oily family has a comic afterlife: unctuous originally meant “greasy,” but by 1742 it described someone so smoothly flattering that their words seemed to leave a film on your skin. Remember anointed as “oil made visible”—first on the forehead, then in the imagination as a sign of special calling.
The Story
In the ancient world, oil was not merely something for a salad or a squeaky hinge: fragrant oil could perfume a guest, soothe a wound, and signal that a god—or a king—had entered the room. Latin called the act inungĕre, “to smear on,” whose past participle inunctum traveled into Old French as enoint and eventually became English anointed. The religious sense grew from the physical one: pouring oil over someone’s head made that person visibly set apart, whether as monarch, priest, or divinely chosen figure. This is why Messiah and Christ are near twins in meaning: Hebrew mashiah means “anointed,” while Greek khristos means the same thing. And the oily family has a comic afterlife: unctuous originally meant “greasy,” but by 1742 it described someone so smoothly flattering that their words seemed to leave a film on your skin. Remember anointed as “oil made visible”—first on the forehead, then in the imagination as a sign of special calling.
Modern Usage
Blessed, destined for greatness, or naturally endowed with a special spiritual purpose
Kin & Kindred
From 'anoint'·To smear with oil; consecrate
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia
Wiktionary