empyrean

English

Etymology

From Latin empȳreus, from Ancient Greek ἐμπύριος (empúrios), from ἐν (en, “in”) + πῦρ (pûr, “fire”) (whence English pyre).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛmˌpaɪˈɹiːn̩/, /ɛmˈpɪɹi.ən/

• Audio (US):

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Noun

empyrean (plural empyreans)

1. (historical) The highest heaven, supposed by the ancients to be a region of pure light and fire or else composed of ether, and sometimes seen as the dwelling-place of God or other divine beings; the highest celestial sphere according to ancient and medieval astronomy.
   • 1674, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Simmons […], →OCLC, page 192:

     So ſung they, and the Empyrean rung,
     With Halleluiahs: […]

   • 1827, Lydia Sigourney, Poems, To the Moon, page 14:

     Perchance they mark
     Where India's cliffs the trembling cloud invade,
     Or Andes with his fiery banner flouts
     The empyrean,...

   • 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “[Experiments.] [Experiments] In Quantity”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 174:

     Milton, a name to resound for ages; / Whose titan angels, Gabriel, Abdiel, / Starr'd from Jehovah's gorgeous armouries, / Tower, the deep-domed empyrëan / Rings to the roar of an angel onset— […]

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     I could have spoken in blank verse of Shakesperian beauty, all sorts of great ideas flashed through my mind; it was as though the bonds of my flesh had been loosened and left the spirit free to soar to the empyrean of its native power.

   • 1908, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Two Poets of Saffron Park”, in The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, Bristol: J[ames] W[illiams] Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company, →OCLC, page 13:

     This particular evening, if it remembered for nothing else, will be remembered in that place for its strange sunset. […] The whole was so close about the earth, as if to express nothing but a violent secrecy. The very empyrean seemed to be a secret.

   • 1917, Upton Sinclair, “Captivating Ideals”, in The Profits of Religion […] ‎^[1], book 5:

     Like all religious thinkers, he carries with his scholar's equipment a pair of metaphysical wings, wherewith at any moment he may soar into the empyrean, out of reach of vulgar materialists, like you and me.

Related terms

• pyre

Adjective

empyrean (not comparable)

1. Of the sky or the heavens, and particularly relating to the highest celestial sphere in premodern cosmology; celestially refined.
   • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, stanza 270, page 71:

     In th' Empyrean Heaven, (the bleſs'd Abode) / The Thrones and the Dominions proſtrate lie, / Not daring to behold their angry God: / And an huſh'd ſilence damps the tuneful sky.

   • 1700, Matthew Prior, Carmen Saeculare:

     Yet upward she [the goddess] incessant flies;
     Resolv’d to reach the high empyrean Sphere.

   • 1818, John Keats, “Book II”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] [T. Miller] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 91, lines 821–822:

     Lispings empyrean will I sometime teach / Thine honied tongue— […]

   • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LXXVIII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:

     […] it was like those gods of Epicurus, who saw the doings of men from their empyrean heights and had no might to alter one smallest particle of what occurred.

Synonyms

• empyreal

Translations

the highest heaven

• Catalan: empiri m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 重霄 (zh) (chóngxiāo)

• French: Empyrée (fr) m
• German: Empyreum (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἔμπυρος (émpuros)

• Italian: Empireo m
• Japanese: 火天 (ja) (かてん, katen)
• Latin: empȳreus
• Portuguese: empíreo m
• Russian: эмпирей (ru) (empirej)
• Spanish: empíreo (es)
• Swedish: eldhimmel empyré

References

• “empyrean”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “empyrean”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volumes II (D–Hoon), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Further reading

• empyrean on Wikipedia.Wikipedia