Zeal

The story of the word

Zēlos in Greek held two things at once: the heat that drives you to match a rival, and the sourness of watching him succeed. Church Latin took the noble half as zelus and English received it as zeal in the fourteenth century, chiefly for religious fervour. The bitter half went by a different road, through Old French, and reached English as jealousy. Same word, two tempers.

How it travelled

Ancient Greek → Late Latin → Old French → English

First recorded

14th century