cherub
(ˈtʃɛrəb)
Pl. cherubs, cherubim (ˈtʃɛr(j)uːbɪm). Forms: α. 1 cerubin, -im, 1–8 cherubin, 3–7 -ine, 4 -yn, (5 cherybin). β. 4–9 cherub, (6–7 cherube). γ. 4–5 cherubym, 6–8 -im. pl. δ. 3–7 cherubins, 4 -ynes, 4–6 -yns, (6 -ines, -inis). ε. 4–5 cherubyn, 5 -in. ζ. 6 cherubyms, 6 -ims. η. 7– cherubim. θ. 6 cherubis, -es, 6– cherubs.
[OE. and ME. cherubin, ME. and mod. cherub; derived (through F., L., Gr.) from the Heb. of the OTest., where k'rūb, pl. k'rūbīm, are used as explained below. (It has no root or certain etymology in Hebrew, and its derivation is disputed.) From Heb. the word was adopted without translation by the LXX as χερούβ, χερουβίµ (-ίν, -είν), also in N.T., Heb. ix. 5, and by the Vulgate as cherūb, cherūbīn, cherūbīm (the latter in the Clementine text). As the plural was popularly much better known than the sing. (e.g. in the Te Deum), the Romanic forms were all fashioned on cherubin, viz. It. cherubino, pl. -i, Sp. querubin, -es, Pg. querubin, cherubin, F. cherubin, pl. -s.
The earliest Eng. instances are of cerubin, cherubin, taken over from ecclesiastical Latin apparently as a foreign word, and treated implicitly as a singular, sometimes as a proper name, at other times as a collective. From the ME. period, the popular forms were, as in French, cherubin sing., cherubins plural. Cherubin survived in popular use to the 18th c.; but in the Bible translations, cherub was introduced from the Vulgate by Wyclif, was kept up by the 16th c. translators, and gradually drove cherubin into the position of an illiterate form. In the plural, cherubins is found from the 13th c.; and although in MSS. of the earlier Wyclifite version, cherubyn is more frequent (after the Vulgate), the later version has always cherubins; this was retained in ordinary use till the 17th c. But in the 16th c., acquaintance with the Heb. led Bible translators to substitute cherubims: this occurs only once in Coverdale, but always in the Bishops' Bible and version of 1611. From the beginning of the 17th c., cherubim began to be preferred by scholars (e.g. Milton) to cherubims, and has gradually taken its place; the Revised Version of 1881–5 has adopted it. A native plural cherubs arose early in the 16th c.; in Tindale, Coverdale and later versions (but not in that of 1611) it occurs beside cherubins, -ims; it is now the ordinary individual plural, the Biblical cherubim being more or less collective.
Briefly then, cherubin, cherubins are the original English forms, as still in French. But, in the process of Biblical translation, cherubin has been supplanted by cherub; and cherubins has been ‘improved’ successively to cherubims, cherubim; while, concurrently, cherub has been popularly fitted with a new plural cherubs.
The foreign form of the plural, coupled with the vagueness of the meaning in many passages, led to curious grammatical treatment even in MSS. of the LXX: here the Heb. sing. and pl. are normally reproduced as χερούβ, χερουβίµ (the latter taken in Gen. iii. 24 as a neut. plural, as it is in Heb. ix. 5), yet in Ps. xviii. 10 and the duplicate passage in 2 Sam. xxii. 11, and in 2 Chron. iii. 11, the Heb. sing. k'rūb (of the Masoretic text) is represented by χερουβίµ, treated as a neuter sing. (ἐπὶ τῷ χερουβίµ, τοῦ χερουβὶµ τοῦ ἑτέρου). In the former case the Vulgate follows the LXX with cherubim. Since, in the Latin, there is, in many passages, nothing to show the number of cherubin, it is no cause of surprise that readers often took it as singular, and it is actually used as a sing. (masc. or neuter) in many mediæval Latin hymns and litanies.]
The history of the sense, or notion attached to the word, lies outside English, though English use reflects all its varieties. In the OTest. the cherubim are ‘living creatures’ with two or four wings, but the accounts of their form are not consistent: cf. the earlier notices with those of Ezekiel's vision (Ezek. i, x). They first appear in Genesis iii. 24, as guardians of the tree of life. This name was also given to the two images overlaid with gold placed with wings expanded over the mercy-seat in the Jewish tabernacle and temple, over which the shekinah or symbol of the divine presence was manifested. A frequent expression for the Divine Being was ‘he that dwelleth (or sitteth) between (or on) the cherubim’. Psalm xviii. 10 (also contained in 2 Sam. xxii. 11) says of Jehovah ‘He rode upon a cherub (LXX. cherubim), and did fly’. It is in connexion with this class of passages that the word first appears in English, and it is difficult to know exactly how the word was construed or used. The inclusion of the cherubim among angels appears to belong to Christian Mysticism. According to the 4th c. work attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, the heavenly beings are divided into three hierarchies, each containing three orders or choirs, viz. (according to the received order) seraphim, cherubim, thrones; dominions, virtues (δυνάµεις), powers; principalities, archangels, angels. Cherubim were thus made the second of the nine orders, having the special attribute of knowledge and contemplation of divine things. Their angelic character is that which chiefly prevails in later notions and in Christian art.
† 1. In early use: (cherubin, -yn, -ym). A reproduction of the Latin form, app. treated as singular or collective, without article, and variously understood. † a. In certain Biblical expressions describing the seat or dwelling of the Deity. Obs.
| c 825 Vesp. Ps. xvii[i] 10 Astaᵹ ofer cerubim & fleh. Ibid. lxxix. 2, and xcviii[i] 1 Ðu ðe sites ofer Cerubin [L. in all 3 places Cherubin]. c 1000 Ags. Ps. xvii[i]. 10 And he astah eft ofer cherubin [ascendit super cherubin]. Ibid. xcviii[i]. 1 Sitteð ofer cherubin [sedet super cherubin]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 111 And steh eft abuuen cherubin. a 1240 Ureisun 25 in Cott. Hom. 191 Heih is þi kinestol onuppe cherubine. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xviii. 11 And he stegh ouer cherubin and flegh thar. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xcviii[i]. 1 Crist is kynge þat sittys on cherubyn. 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. iv. 4 The arke..of the Lord of oostis, sittynge vpon cherubym [1388 cherubyn]. ― Ps. xvii[i]. 11 He steȝede vpon cherubyn, and fleiȝ [1388 -ym]. ― Ps. lxxix. [lxxx.] 2 That sittest vpon cherubyn [1388 -ym]. |
¶ The form -in, -im, also stands in one passage in Coverdale, and Bps.' Bible; in neither of which it is (elsewhere) the plural form:—
| 1535 Coverdale Isa. xxxvii. 16 Thou God of Israel which dwellest vpon Cherubin. 1568 Bible (Bishops') ed. 1573 ibid., Which dwellest vpon Cherubim. |
† b. Explained as ‘fullness of knowledge’, or ‘a celestial virtue’.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xvii[i]. 12 He steghe abouen cherubyn, þat is he passis all manere of conynge, for cherubyn is als mykel as fulnes of conynge. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. ix. (1495) 36 Cherubyn is to vnderstonde plente of cunnynge. 1650 French Chym. Dict., Cherubin is a celestiall vertue, and influence..proceeding from God, and descending upon the earth, and upon all men. Of this divine glory Paracelsus speaks largely. |
† c. Taken as the proper name of an individual angel; particularly of Uriel. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 356 Þis ilke is..bitocned bi cherubines sweorde biuoren þe ȝeten of Parais. a 1300 Cursor M. 1245 Now ga To paradis..Til cherubin þat es þe yateward. Ibid. 22599 Þan sal quak sant cherubin, and alsua sal do seraphin. a 1300 Signs bef. Judgem. 152 in E.E.P. (1862) 11 Þan sal quake seraphin and cherubin . þat beþ angles two. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle i. ix. (1859) 7 Cherubyn, my dere broder, to whome is commytted the naked swerde for to kepe the entre of paradys. 1537 Thersytes in Four Old Plays (1848) 82 The fyue stones of Dauyd..the wing with which seint Mychaell dyd fly to his mount, the counters wherwith cherubyn, did cheristones count. [1876 Dict. Chr. Antiq. I. 89/2 From the name of Uriel being little known, the fourth archangel is designated in some mediæval monuments as St. Cherubin.] |
† d. Used collectively for a guard, company, or order of angels. Obs.
| c 1367 Eulog. Hist. (1860) II. iv. xi. 12 Cherubin quoque, id est, Angelorum præsidium. 1388 Wyclif Gen. iii. 24 Cherubyn, that is keping of aungels. 1535 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. (Berthelet's ed.) ii. ix, The ij ordre hyght cherubyn, and is to vnderstonde, plente of counnynge. 1613 R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3) Cherubin, order of Angels. |
¶ Perhaps formerly taken in sense c. or d. in the Te Deum: see 2.
2. In extant use: A being of a celestial or angelic order. a. One of the ‘living creatures’ mentioned in the Old Testament, and figured in the Jewish Temple.
b. One of the second order of angels of the Dionysian hierarchy, reputed to excel specially in knowledge (as the seraphim in love); a conventional representation of such an angelic being in painting or sculpture.
As the Christian notion was simply super-imposed as a kind of gloss upon the Hebrew, the two are not usually separable in med.L. or Eng. Milton completely blends them, as did e.g. Durandus in his Rationale Divinorum Officiorum (1286). In early Christian art, cherubim were app. coloured red, but according to some, blue, the seraphim being red. In modern art, a cherub is usually represented as a beautiful winged child, or as consisting of a child's head with wings but no body.
† (α) Sing. cherubin. Obs. (Cf. 1 c.)
| 1382 Wyclif Exod. xxv. 19 That o cherubyn [1388 cherub] be in the o syde..and that othere in that othere. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 624 A somonour..That hadde a fyr reed cherubynnes [v.r. -ynys, -ynes] face. 1517 R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 70 A cherybyn of gold xii spane long. c 1570 Thynne Pride & Lowl. cciv. 30 A Vintener, His face was redd as any Cherubyn. 1597 Shakes. Lover's Compl. 319 Which like a Cherubin above them hover'd. a 1626 Bacon New Atl. (1658) 22 The Spirit of Chastity..in the likenesse of a fair beautifull Cherubine. 1654 Jer. Taylor Real Pres. i. ii, No more then we know how a Cherubin sings or thinks. 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. Ded., God in either eye has placed a cherubin. 1708–21 Kersey, A Cherub or Cherubin. So 1721–31 in Bailey. [1742–1800 Bailey, Cherub or Cherubim [with pl. -ims].] |
(β) Sing. cherub.
| c 1382 Wyclif Ezek. xli. 18, & cherubyns forged & palmes; & a palme bitwix cherub & cherub, & cherub hadde two faces. 1535 Coverdale Exod. xxv. 19 And thou shalt make two Cherubyns..y{supt} the one Cherub maye be vpon the one ende. ― 2 Sam. xxii. 11 He sat vpon Cherub and dyd flee. 1568 Bible (Bishops') ibid., He rode vpon Cerub. ― Exod. xxxvii. 7 One Cherub on the one side, and another Cherub, etc. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. iii. 50, I see a Cherube that see's him. 1632 Milton Penseroso 54 With thee bring..The Cherub Contemplation. ― P.L. vii. 198 Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones, And Vertues, winged Spirits. 1735 Pope Prol. Sat. 331 A cherub's face, a reptile all the rest. c 1800 Dibdin Poor Jack, There's a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft To keep watch for the life of poor Jack. 1832 G. Downes Lett. Cont. Countries I. 431 Taking the dimensions of a cherub, placed at some angle as a diminutive ornament. 1875 Hamerton Intell. Life viii. i. (1876) 281 A cherub in the clouds of Heaven. |
(γ) Sing. cherubim. Obs. (Still dial. and vulgar.)
| 1568 Bible (Bishop's) ed. 1573 Exod. xxv. 18–19 Thou shalt make two Cherubims of gold..the one Cherubim shalt thou make on the one ende [elsewhere cherub]. 1673 Lady's Call. ii. iii. 88 The ardor of a cherubim. 1709 Swift & Addison Tatler No. 32 ¶2 Why should she wish to be a Cherubim, when 'tis Flesh and Blood that makes her adorable? 1848 Dickens Dombey xxxi, As he looks up at the organ, Miss Tox in the gallery shrinks behind the fat legs of a cherubim on a monument. |
† (δ) Plural cherubins. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 8282 Þe gilden oyle, þe propiciatori, Tua cherubins [v.r. -ynes]. 1382 Wyclif Exod. xxv. 18 Two goldun cherubyns. ― Ezek. x. 20 Foure cherubyns. 1490 Caxton How to Die 22 The cherubyns and the syraphyns come to thyne helpe. 1535 Coverdale Exod. xxv. 18 Two Cherubyns of beaten golde. 1549–62 Sternhold & H. Ps. xviii. 10 On Cherubs and on Cherubins full royally he rode. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. ii. 74 Feares make diuels of Cherubins. 1673 H. More Appendix 11 The Cherubins in the Ark were of this figure. |
† (ε) Plural cherubin. Obs. or arch.
| 1382 Wyclif Exod. xxxvii. 7–8 Two cherubyn [1388 cherubins] of gold..two cherubyn in either heiȝtis. c 1400 Mandeville viii. 86, 4 Lyouns of Gold, upon the whiche thei bare Cherubyn of Gold, 12 Spannes long. [Cherubin in the Te Deum is now taken as an archaic plural: see below ¶.] |
(ζ) Plural cherubims. (arch. or vulgar).
| 1535 Coverdale Exod. xxvi. 1 Cherubyms shalt thou make theron of broderd worke [elsewhere -ins, -yns, or cherubs, -es]. 1568 Bible (Bishops') ed. 1573 Gen. iii. 24 He set Cherubims and a flaming sword. ― Heb. ix. 5 And ouer it the Cherubims of glory [so always]. 1611 Bible Exod. xxv. 18 Thou shalt make two Cherubims of gold. 1649 Jer. Taylor Life of Christ i. iv, Inflam'd beyond the love of Seraphims..made more knowing then Cherubims. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 14/1 If there be but one in a Coat it is called a Cherub, but if more then Cherubims. 1714 Spect. No. 600 ¶7 Rabbins tell us, that the cherubims are a Set of Angels who know most. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) IV. 207 Mural tablets with cherubims and flaming urns. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. Let. 10 June, [They] sing psalms and hymns like two cherubims. |
(η) Plural cherubim.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. 28 The first place..is giuen to the Angels of loue, which are tearmed Seraphim, the second to the Angels of light, which are tearmed Cherubim. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 100 Majesty Divine, enclos'd With Flaming Cherubim. Ibid. xi. 128 The Cohort bright Of watchful Cherubim: four faces each Had, like a double Janus: all their shape Spangl'd with eyes. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 52 The groupe of cherubim, seraphim, etc. in a marble basso-relievo. 1821 Byron Cain i. i. 418, I have heard it said, The seraphs love most—cherubim know most. 1864 Pusey Lect. Daniel viii. 520 The Cherubim..were objects of awe. 1885 Bible (Revised) Gen. iii. 24 He placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim [so always]. |
(θ) Plural cherubs.
| 1526 Tindale Heb. ix. 5 The cherubis of glory [Wyclif 1382 and 1388 cherubyns, Coverd. -ins, Cranmer -ims, Bps.' Bible -ims, Geneva -ins, Rhem. -ins, 1611 -ims, 1881 -im]. 1535 Coverdale Gen. iii. 24 Before the garden of Eden he set Cherubes. ― 1 Kings vi. 23 He made also..two Cherubins..One wynge of ether of the Cherubs had fyue cubytes. 1609 Bible (Douay) Ezek. x. 1 Ouer the head of the Cherubs [so throughout the Chapter]. a 1711 Ken Hymnotheo Wks. 1721 III. 201 Cherubs encircling Heav'n with Swords of Flame. 1718 Prior Solomon i. ad fin., That fatal Tree..Which flaming Swords and angry Cherubs guard. 1822 Byron Vis. Judgm. xxxi, The cherubs and the saints bow'd down before That archangelic hierarch. |
¶ In the Te Deum, in 15th c., cherubin and seraphin, may have been a retention of the Latin plural; but they may also (as in some OFr. versions) have been taken as singular. They are now taken as plural, and in edd. of the Prayer-bk. of the American Episcopal Church, altered to ‘cherubim and seraphim’.
| c 1400 Prymer MS. Maskell Mon. Rit. Eccl. Angl. (1882) III. 1516 To thee cherubyn and seraphym: crien with uncecynge vois. c 1420 Douce MS. 275 lf. 6 b To thee cherubyn and seraphin: crien with outen stentinge. c 1420 Douce MS. 246 lf. 16 b To the cherubyn and seraphyn cryeth with voyce withouten cessynge. 1543 Prymer in Eng. & Lat., use of Sarum C. v. b To the crye forth all Angels..To the thus cryeth Cherubyn, and Seraphin contynually. 1546 Primer, Too the Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry. 1549–62 Sternh. & Hopk. Ps. (1619) To thee Cherub and Seraphin, to cry they doe not lin. |
3. transf. Applied to persons: † a. (in form cherubim) to a divine of surpassing intellect. Obs.
| 1547 Hooper Decl. of Christ & his Office iv, No mans authoritie, Be he Augustine, Tertullian, or other Cherubim or Cherabim [? Seraphim]. 1638 E. Knot in Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. iv. §9 S. Thomas [Aquinas] the Cherubim among Divines. |
† b. (in form cherubin) to a beautiful or beloved woman (cf. angel). Obs.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. ii. 63 Thou young and Rose-lip'd Cherubin. 1610 ― Temp. i. ii. 152. 1634 Habington Castara i. viii. (Arb.) 21 Sing forth sweete Cherubin. 1703 Rowe Fair Penit. v. i. 1756 Hadst thou been honest, thou hadst been a Cherubin. |
c. (in form cherub, pl. cherubs) to a beautiful and innocent child.
| 1705 Otway Orphan ii. ii. 446 My little Cherub what hast thou to ask me? 1814 Scott Wav. ii, The round-faced rosy cherub before him. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes I. 18 Two little cherubs appeared in the Clapham Paradise. 1883 M. E. Braddon Ishmael iv, The youngest..a rosy-cheeked cherub, with golden curls. |
d. cherubim: a provincial name of the Barn Owl.
| 1864 Harry Jones Holiday Papers 321 You've been and shot a cherubim. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Brit. Birds 126 [Locality not given.] |
e. cherubims: a nickname of the 11th Hussars, ‘by a bad pun’ from their cherry-coloured trousers. Brewer, Phr. & Fable.
† 4. in the cherubins: unsubstantial, fanciful, ‘in the clouds’. Obs. rare.
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 139 (D.) Diogenes mocking soch quidificall trifles, that were al in the cherubins, said, etc. |
5. attrib. and in comb.
| 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 63 This fell whore..Hath in her more destruction then thy Sword, For all her Cherubin looke. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Cherubin, Rouge comme vn Cherubin, Red-faced, Cherubin-faced, hauing a fierie facies like a Cherubin. 1617 S. Collins Def. Bp. Ely 415 Seraph-like, not Cherub-like. a 1771 Gray Bard ix, A voice, as of the Cherub-Choir. 1792 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 21 With a little cherub-like face. 1794 Coleridge Death of Chatterton 7 Assume, O Death! the cherub wings of Peace. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. lxv, Ah, Vice! how soft are thy voluptuous ways..A cherub-hydra round us dost thou gape. 1821 ― Cain i. i. 90 The cherubim-defended battlements. Ibid. ii. ii. 139 The cherub-guarded walls of Eden. 1877 Mrs. Forrester Mignon. I. 12 The gold-framed cherub face. |