empyrean, the

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empyrean, the heaven, in particular the highest part of heaven, thought by the ancients to be the realm of pure fire and by early Christians to be the abode of God and the angels. The word is recorded from late Middle English (as an adjective, meaning belonging to or deriving from heaven), and comes via medieval Latin from Greek empurios, from en- ‘in’ + pur ‘fire’ The noun dates from the mid 17th century.

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