Word Origin & History
glory
c.1300, "magnificence," from O.Fr. glorie, from L. gloria "great praise or honor," of uncertain origin. Gk. doxa "expectation" (Homer), later "opinion, fame," and ultimately "glory," was used in Biblical writing to translate a Heb. word which had a sense of "brightness, splendor, magnificence, majesty," and this was subsequently translated as L. gloria, which has colored that word's meaning in most European tongues. Glory days was in use by 1980s; glorious is c.1300, from O.Fr. glorieus, from L. gloriosus "full of glory," from gloria. In 14c.-17c. it also could mean "boastful, vainglorious." Glorified in the sense of "transformed into something better" is recorded from 1821.