What is the original meaning of the word "messiah"?

Question

What does annointed mean? Or to be annointed?

Answer 1

In Judaism, the Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ Standard Hebrew Mašíaḥ Arabic: Al-Masiḥ, المسيح), Tiberian Hebrew Māšîªḥ, Aramaic משיחא) initially meant any person who was anointed by a prophet of God. In English today, in religious contexts, it is used in two major contexts: the anticipated saviour of the Jews, which has to come in the future to bring ultimate peace on earth. And secondly, the one who is anticipated as, regarded as, or professes to be a saviour or liberator. Jews, however, do not generally use the word "saviour" in reference to the messiah, primarily because of the Christian connotation of the word "saviour," and the sense in which that word is used by Christianity.

In the first century, Jews interpreted the prophecies of the Tanakh to refer more specifically to someone appointed by God to lead the Jewish people in the face of their tribulations with the Romans. Christians believe that these prophecies actually referred to a spiritual savior, and consider Jesus to be that messiah. The word Christ (Greek Χριστός, Christos, "the anointed one") is a literal translation of "moshiach" used in the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible, and derived from the Greek verb χριω "rub, anoint with scented unguents or oil, as was done after bathing", "anoint in token of consecration" (Liddell & Scott's Greek-English Lexicon).

In Islam, Jesus (Isa) is also called the Masih (Arabic for Messiah).

Answer 2

For etymology, I generally find the American Heritage Dictionary to be best. It traces the word "Messiah" backwards through the various stages of English, old French, Latin, and Greek, to either an Aramaic or Hebrew word meaning "anointed" in either case.

Interestingly, the AHD lists "massage" and variants as related words.

In response to your edit of the question: "Anoint" literally means to rub with oil, but has the additional meaning of "choosing" with a religious or formal tone to it. See http://www.bartleby.com/61/3/A0320300.html

Answer 3

According to:
http://www.takeourword.com/Issue068.html

"Incidentally, that was a direct translation of Hebrew mashiah “anointed” (English messiah), which was short for m’shiah yahweh “the Lord’s anointed”.

Answer 4

"Anointed One" for the Hebrew Messiah and Christos in Greek

Answer 5

The promised savior of the Jews, Jesus Christ. No other meaning is attributed.

Answer 6

initially meant any person who was anointed by a prophet of God.