paradise (n.)
late Old English, "the garden of Eden," from Old French paradis "paradise, garden of Eden" (11c.), from Late Latin paradisus "a park, an orchard; the garden of Eden, the abode of the blessed," from Greek paradeisos "a park; paradise, the garden of Eden," from an Iranian source similar to Avestan pairidaeza "enclosure, park" (Modern Persian and Arabic firdaus "garden, paradise"), a compound of pairi- "around" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, near, against, around") + diz "to make, to form" a wall (from PIE root *dheigh- "to form, build"). The first element is cognate with Greek peri "around, about" (see per).
The Greek word was used by Xenophon and others for an orchard or royal hunting park in Persia, and it was taken in Septuagint to mean "the garden of Eden," and in New Testament translations of Luke xxiii.43 to mean "the Christian heaven, place where the souls of the righteous departed await resurrection" (a sense attested in English from c. 1200; extended from c. 1400 to the Muslim heaven).
The extended meaning "place of extreme beauty; blissful state like or comparable to Paradise" is from c. 1300. The Gates of Paradise (late 14c.) originally was the Virgin.
And that this place may thoroughly be thought
True paradise, I have the serpent brought.
[Donne]
Trends of paradise
updated on July 08, 2024
Dictionary entries near paradise
parachronism
parachute
paraclete
parade
paradigm
paradise
paradisiacal
parados
paradox
paradoxical
paradoxology
