Empyrean - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

EMPYREAN (from the Med. Lat. empyreus, an adaptation of the Gr. g p7rvpos, in or on the fire, 7rup), the place in the highest heaven, which in ancient cosmologies was supposed to be occupied by the element of fire. It was thus used as a name for the firmament, and in Christian literatureforthe dwelling-place of God and the blessed, and as the source of light. The word is used both as a substantive and as an adjective. Having the same Greek origin are the scientific words "empyreuma" and "empyreumatic," applied to the characteristic smell of burning or charring vegetable or animal matter.