John the Baptist

John the Baptist

English

Caravaggio's Saint John the Baptist (or Youth with a Ram, c. 1602)

Etymology

From Middle English Johan þe Babtis, from Latin Iōannēs Baptista.

Proper noun

John the Baptist

1. A New Testament prophet who baptized Jesus. He was executed by Herod Antipas at the request of Salome.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Matthew 3:1–2:

     In those daies came Iohn the Baptist, preaching in the wildernesse of Iudea, And saying, Repent yee: for the kingdome of heauen is at hand.

Derived terms

• St. John the Baptist Parish

Translations

biblical prophet

Afrikaans: Johannes die Doper Aghwan: 𐔺𐕒𐕛𐕆𐔰𐕎𐔶𐕚 𐕀𐔰𐕐𐔾𐕒𐕡𐕘𐔰𐔾 (yovhanēs xašluġal) Albanian: Gjon Pagëzori Arabic: يُوحَنَّا الْمَعْمَدَان‎ (yūḥannā l-maʿmadān), يَحْيَى‎ (ar) (yaḥyā) Armenian: Հովհաննես Մկրտիչ (Hovhannes Mkrtičʿ) Azerbaijani: Vəftizçi İohann Basque: Joan Bataiatzailea Belarusian: Іаан Прадцеча m (Iaan Pradcječa), Іаан Хрысціцель m (Iaan Xryscicjelʹ) Breton: Yann ar Badezour m Bulgarian: Йоан Кръстител m (Joan Krǎstitel), Йоан Предтеча m (Joan Predteča) Catalan: Joan Baptista m Chinese: Mandarin: 施洗約翰／施洗约翰 (zh) (shīxǐ Yuēhàn), 施洗者約翰／施洗者约翰 (zh) (shīxǐzhě Yuēhàn), 若翰洗者 (Shèng Ruòhàn xǐzhě) (Catholic) Coptic: ⲓⲱϩⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ ⲡⲃⲁⲡⲧⲓⲥⲧⲏⲥ m (iōhannēs pbaptistēs) Czech: Jan Křtitel m Danish: Johannes Døberen Dutch: Johannes de Doper Esperanto: Johano la Baptisto Estonian: Ristija Johannes Finnish: Johannes Kastaja (fi) French: Jean le Baptiste, Jean-Baptiste (fr) Old French: Jehan Baptiste m Galician: Xoán Bautista m Georgian: იოანე ნათლისმცემელი (ioane natlismcemeli) German: Johannes der Täufer Greek: Ιωάννης ο Βαπτιστής m (Ioánnis o Vaptistís), Ιωάννης ο Πρόδρομος m (Ioánnis o Pródromos) Ancient: Ἰωάννης m (Iōánnēs), Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστής m (Iōánnēs ho baptistḗs), Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτίζων m (Iōánnēs ho baptízōn) Hebrew: יוחנן המטביל‎ Hindi: यूहन्ना m (yūhannā) Hungarian: Keresztelő János Indonesian: Yohannes Pembaptis Irish: Eoin Baiste m Italian: Giovanni Battista m Japanese: 洗礼者ヨハネ (senreisha Yohane) Korean: 세례자 요한 (seryeja yohan) Latin: Ioannes Baptista m Latvian: Jānis Kristītājs m Limburgish: Johannes de Duiper Lithuanian: Jonas Krikštytojas m Luxembourgish: Johannes den Deefer Macedonian: Јован Крстител (Jovan Krstitel) Malay: John Pembaptis Maltese: Ġwanni l-Battista, Ġwanni l-Għammied Norwegian: Bokmål: Johannes Døperen Nynorsk: Døyparen Johannes Persian: یحیی‎ (fa) (Yahyâ), یوحنا معمدان‎ (yuhannâ mamadân) Plautdietsch: Johanes de Deepa Polish: Jan Chrzciciel m, Jan Baptysta m Portuguese: João Batista m Romanian: Ioan Botezătorul m Russian: Иоанн Креститель (Ioann Krestitelʹ), Иоа́нн Предте́ча m (Ioánn Predtéča) Scottish Gaelic: Eòin Baistidh m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: Јован Крститељ, Иван Крститељ Roman: Jovan Krstitelj, Ivan Krstitelj Slovak: Ján Krstiteľ Slovene: Jánez Krstník (sl) m Spanish: Juan Bautista Swahili: Yohane Mbatizaji Swedish: Johannes döparen Turkish: Vaftizci Yahya Ukrainian: Іва́н Хрести́тель m (Iván Xrestýtelʹ), Іван Предтеча m (Ivan Predteča), Йоан Хреститель m (Joan Xrestytelʹ), Йоан Предтеча m (Joan Predteča), Іоан Хреститель m (Ioan Xrestytelʹ), Іоан Предтеча m (Ioan Predteča) Urdu: یوحنا اصطباغی‎, یوحنا بپتسمہ دینے والا‎ Vietnamese: Gioan Baotixita, Gioan Tẩy Giả, Gioan Tiền Hô (Catholic), Giăng Báp-tít (Protestant) Welsh: Ioan Fedyddiwr m

Noun

John the Baptist

1. (figuratively) A harbinger or prophetic figure, often one initially ignored or rejected by others.
   • 1938 January 17, “Books: Keyserling”, in Time‎, volume 31, page 62:

     […] and praise such as Glenn Frank’s: “Keyserling may turn out to be a John the Baptist of a new Western civilization.”

   • 1956, Carlile Aylmer Macartney, October Fifteenth: A History of Modern Hungary, 1929–1945, volume 1, page 184:

     In 1935 Szálasi had been a lonely John the Baptist in Hungarian politics, the self-appointed leader of a tiny party, less than 500 strong, advocating an unpopular cause.

   • 2003 September 21, Frank Kermode, “‘Pieces of My Mind’”, in The New York Times‎:

     Ellis makes Diaghilev a John the Baptist of a ‘classico-mathematical Renaissance’, and the notion that this was a renaissance of some kind or other was evidently in the air.

Related terms

• voice in the wilderness

Further reading

• John the Baptist at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “John the Baptist”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “John the Baptist”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “John the Baptist”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.