History
The hymn begins with the words that the angels sang when the birth of Christ was announced to shepherds in Luke 2:14. Other verses were added very early, forming a doxology, which in the 4th century became part of morning prayers, and is still recited in the Byzantine Rite Orthros service.
The Latin translation is traditionally attributed to Saint Hilary of Poitiers (c. 300–368), who may have learned it while in the East (359–360). The Vulgate Latin translation of the Bible was commissioned only in 382. The Latin hymn thus uses the word excelsis to translate the Greek word ὑψίστοις (the highest) in Luke 2:14, not the word altissimis, which Saint Jerome preferred for his translation.
Read more about this topic: Gloria In Excelsis Deo
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