transfiguration n.

late 14c., from Latin transfigurationem (nominative transfiguratio) "a change of form," noun of action from past-participle stem of transfigurare "change the shape of" (see transfigure). In English, originally "the change in appearance of Christ before his disciples" (Matthew xvii.2; Mark ix.2, 3). The non-Christian sense is first recorded 1540s.