Religious greetings & farewells
Lately I’ve been thinking about the intersection of language and religion, and how so much of human language is based around — or at least rooted in — religion and mythology. Even a casual farewell can invoke God! Check it out:
Medieval Latin had this phrase “ad Deum,” which meant, “to God.”
This gave us variations like: “adieu” in French; “adios” in Spanish, “addio” in Italian, and “addiju” in Maltese.
In Persian, we bid each other farewell with a “khodahafez.” This translates to, “May God protect you.” It’s also often shortened to “khodafez.”
English is religious too! “Goodbye” comes from “God be with ye.”
Religious idioms & phrases
The following English phrases & idioms came from the Bible:
1️⃣ To “put words in someone’s mouth.” This is to suggest that someone said or meant something that he or she didn’t actually say or mean (Merriam-Webster.) It comes from the second book of Samuel, 14:3: “… and Joab put the words into her mouth.”
2️⃣ “A drop in the bucket.” This refers to a very small quantity, and can be used to talk about putting problems into proportion. It comes from Isaiah 40:15: “Behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and like dust on a balance are they counted; behold the islands are like fine [dust] that blows away.”
3️⃣ “The writing on the wall.” This refers to an ominous warning, or that there are clear signs that something bad is about to go down. To be honest, I associate this phrase with early 2000s emo music. Feels like it’s required to have a line like this in every song! But what’s interesting is that it actually came from the Book of Daniel. Check it out:
[1] King Belshazzar made a great feast for his one thousand dignitaries … [2] Belshazzar said … to bring the golden and silver vessels that his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Temple that was in Jerusalem… [5] At that time, the fingers of a human hand emerged and wrote opposite the candelabrum on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the palm of the hand that was writing. [7] The king … said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man who shall read this writing and tell me its interpretation shall wear purple and [have] a golden chain on his neck and rule over a third of the kingdom.” [8] Then all the king’s wise men entered, but they could not read the writing or let the king know its interpretation.”
Words derived from mythology
Monotheism isn’t the only religious contributor to English. We also have a lot of influence from Greek mythology. Check it out:
💘 Narcissism. This can refer to egoism or egocentrism, or even a personality disorder. It comes from Narcissus in Greek mythology. Narcissus was so beautiful that he literally *fell* in love with himself. He saw his own reflection in a pool of water, became enamored, fell in and drowned!
🌊 Tantalize. This means, “to tease or torment by or as if by presenting something desirable to the view but continually keeping it out of reach.” (Merriam-Webster.) It comes from Tantalus, son of Zeus. Tantalus tried to trick the gods into eating his child (as one does, totally normal, nothing to see here.) His punishment was to stand in a pool of water, underneath a fruit tree with low branches, which he could never quite grasp. The water would constantly recede before he could manage to drink from it. Hence – tantalize!
🐐 Panic. This is a sudden overpowering fright (Merriam-Webster.) It comes from the Greek god Pan, son of Hermes. Pan was part goat, and was able to incite a sudden, irrational fear or rage in humans.
🌟 Interested in the intersection of language and religion? Check out our selection of curated articles on the topic.
Pingback: ההבדל בין גוד איבנינג וגוד נייט • Raging Linguist