LandonWillis

Category: English

  • Casting (And Sprinkling) Aspersions

    Aspersion is a fun word in English.

    It comes from the Latin word Spargere, which means “to scatter” or “to sprinkle”. Its most common definition is to insult or doubt somebody, as if you were “scattering” insults on them.

    We typically use the word “cast” before it in a sentence. For example, I could say “after eating, he cast aspersions on the restaurant’s cleanliness”.

    However, there’s also another use of the word.

    Remember how Spargere in Latin could also mean “to sprinkle”? Well, in English the original meaning of the word “aspersion” was “a baptism by sprinkling water”. So, if you hear about some Christians who had a priest sprinkle water on their newborn, that’s called an aspersion.

    This meaning is directly related to the other original meaning for “aspersion” in English: the sprinkling of Christ’s blood. Since baptism references Christ’s death and resurrection, it makes sense that we would use a similar word to describe it.

  • Why Is It Called The ‘Passion’ Of Christ?

    Around Easter time, you’ve probably heard people talk a whole lot about the “Passion of Christ”. Obviously they’re talking about His torture, crucifixion, and death.

    But, why do we call it His “passion”?

    Well, our earliest records show that the word “passion” entered the English language around the year 1200. During this time, the only meaning of the word had to do with Jesus’ crucifixion.

    It comes from the Latin word passio, which itself is another form of the Latin verb pati, meaning “to suffer” or “to endure”. So, the passion of Christ is literally “the suffering of Christ”.

    That Latin word, pati, is also where we get the word “patience”. If you are being patient, then you are literally “suffering” or “enduring through” something. You can also think of patients in a doctor’s office. A patient is someone who is suffering from some sort of illness or injury.

    The confusion for modern English speakers comes from the fact that the word passion took on a new meaning around the year 1400. At that time, it started to more commonly mean “an intense emotion”. Think of how you might describe someone as “passionate”. This is from a connection to the Greek word pathos, which also meant “suffering”, but took on a second meaning of “emotion”.

    And since the French language comes mostly from Latin, it gives us many of our words which come from Latin. So, before William the Conqueror of France invaded England in 1066, “English” was still mainly a Germanic language. Because of this, Old English had a similar word to “passion” back before William the Conqueror’s invasion: þolian.

    That Old English word gives us the rarely used modern English word “Thole”.

    Thole means the same thing as passion: suffering.

    So, the next time you hear about “the passion of Christ”, you can know that it really just means “the suffering of Christ”. Or, if you want to use a very rare word, you can start talking about “the thole of Christ”.

  • Higgaion

    In Psalm 9:16, we read:

    16 The Lord has made Himself known;
    He has executed judgment.
    A wicked one is ensnared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion Selah

    This is the only place in an English translation of the Bible that you will find the word Higgaion.

    However, it does appear three other times (twice in the Psalms and once in Lamentations). The key distinction is that translators had trouble deciding how to translate it in this verse, so they just didn’t translate it and instead kept the Hebrew word: Higgaion.

    Well, how is it translated in the other three areas?

    For the most part, it’s translated as some form of “meditation” or “murmuring”, making the above verse possibly just mean that the reader should reflect on what was just said.

    Many scholars seem to think the word comes from the Hebrew word hagah, which means “to utter” or “to murmur”. That would make Higgaion literally mean “a murmuring”.

    Another option is that the word comes from an Arabic root which has something to do with a deep, vibrating noise. This theory is that when we see Higgaion in the verse above, it was an instruction for the Israelites to let a harp play a solemn little tune while everyone else stays quiet for a moment.

    If that option is true, it would likely be a good comparison to the English word “affetuoso”, which is a musical term for playing soft, tender notes.

  • Gittith

    In the heading to Psalm 8, we read:

    For the music director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.

    That word, Gittith, appears also in the headings of Psalm 81 and Psalm 84.

    There are two main theories about what the word means.

    The first, and far more popular, theory is that it comes from the name for the Philistine city of Gath. So, a Gittith would maybe be a type of harp or lyre made in Gath. One Jewish tradition even says that it was a specific instrument that David got when he was in Gath in 1 Samuel 21.

    Another theory is that the word Gittith does come from the word Gath, but in a different way. You see, the city of Gath is named from the Hebrew word Gath, which just means “winepress”. So, this theory goes that Gittith is some sort of melody associated with the grape harvest. Or maybe it’s in reference to treading on the enemies of God like a winepress.

    This theory seems far less likely. However, it does have one thing going for it. In the Ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint), the word Gittith is translated as “winepress”. The Vulgate translates it the same way in the late fourth century.

    Overall, we don’t know exactly what the word Gittith means, but the best guess thrown out is it was probably some sort of stringed instrument from the city of Gath.

  • What Does Prodigal Mean?

    In Luke 15:11-32, we read the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

    A man demands his inheritance from his father while still alive, then goes off and wastes all his money in a foreign land. Finally, he comes back home to his father to beg for forgiveness, and receives honor and love.

    But, why do we call this the story of the Prodigal Son? What does “prodigal” mean?

    Well, it means “wasteful” or “wastefully extravagant”.

    It comes from the Latin word prodigus, meaning “wasteful”. This, in turn, comes from the Latin verb prodigere, meaning “to use up” or “to get rid of”.

    So, this is the story of the “wasteful” son.

    We started calling the parable by this name back when Jerome (the man who compiled the Latin translation of the Bible known as the Vulgate back in the late 300s AD) decided to call it the parable of filius prodigus, “the wasteful son”.

    Since that’s the Latin word Jerome chose to use, some English speaking Christians eventually decided to call it the parable of “the Prodigal Son”.

  • What Are The Beatitudes?

    Jesus started His Sermon on the Mount by calling several different groups of people blessed. We typically call this section of His teaching “the beatitudes”.

    But why?

    Well, in Matthew 5:3-11, in our English translations, He starts every sentence with the word “blessed”. In the Latin translation of the New Testament (the Vulgate), the word used is beati.

    From this Latin word, beati, we get the word “beatitude”, which we use to talk about this short passage.

    Well, what does beati mean?

    “Blessed” is certainly a good translation in the context of this passage. But, the more common translation of the Latin word is “happy” or “fortunate”.

    In fact, when the word “beatitude” first entered the English language, it could just mean “supreme happiness”. However, it very quickly developed a purely religious context.

    From beatus (another form of the word beati), we also get the name “Beatrice”. Naming your daughter Beatrice would be like naming your son Felix (felix is another Latin word for “happy”).

    And, even though the Sermon on the Mount was originally written in Greek, it seems that the Greek word used, makarios, could similarly mean “happy” or “blessed”.

  • What Is A Gentile?

    The word “Gentile” comes from the Latin word Gentes, which means “nations or tribes”.

    This goes back to a common theme throughout the Old Testament. Many passages refer to non-Jews by simply calling them “the nations” (in Hebrew, the Goyim).

    One example is Isaiah 49:6:

    6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
    To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the protected ones of Israel;
    I will also make You a light of the nations
    So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

    That line “I will also make You a light of the nations” could also be translated “I will also make You a light to the nations”.

    So, “nations” is sometimes just a catch-all term for all non-Jews.

    When Jerome was translating the Bible into Latin in the late 300s AD, he chose to translate “nations” as Gentes in most places. Over the centuries, this developed into the English word “Gentile”. And you can even sometimes use it to refer to a non-Christian nowadays.

  • Eucharist

    “Eucharist” is another name for the Lord’s Supper, also known as Communion.

    It comes from the Greek word eukharistia (εὐχαριστέω), which literally means “thankfulness” or “gratitude”.

    This refers back to what actually happened during the Last Supper (Luke 22:17-19):

    “17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks (eucharistēsas), He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves…19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks (eucharistēsas), He broke it and gave it to them, saying…”

    So, the Lord’s Supper is a “giving thanks” meal. And that’s why the term Eucharist is commonly used to describe it.

    Plus, as a fun language tidbit, the modern Greek language gets a word from this. The Greek word Eυχαριστώ (pronounced something like “ef-ha-ree-sto”) means “thank you”.

    If you’re ever in Greece and want to tell someone thank you, just remember the word “Eucharist” and try to say it with a Greek accent. You’ll probably end up with something close to “ef-ha-ree-sto”.

  • Grammatical Error In The KJV?

    In Matthew 16:13, the King James Version reads:

    13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

    This is clearly different from other English translations, such as the NIV:

    13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

    The major difference is that the KJV uses the word “whom”, while every other English translation (including the New King James Version) uses “who”.

    Who vs. Whom

    Now, if you’re like most people, you’ve got no clue when to actually use “whom” in a sentence, and you probably don’t really care.

    So, to give you a really easy way to figure it out, there’s one quick little test you can use.

    If you can restructure the question as a statement, using the word “he”, then the correct word is “who”. And if you can use the word “him”, then “whom” is correct.

    As an example:

    You can look at the sentence “Who said that?”. We can rephrase it as a statement: “He said that.”, so the word “who” is correct in that sentence.

    Then, we can look at the sentence “Whom did he hit?”. We can rephrase that as “He hit him.”, so the word “whom” is correct.

    If you want to get into the fancy grammar terminology, this is because “who” is in the subjective case, and “whom” is in the objective case.

    Whom in the KJV

    So, back to the KJV.

    Let’s apply this quick test we just learned to the translation of Jesus’ question in the KJV.

    “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”

    First, let’s just drop out the appositive, “Son of man”, to make this sentence a bit easier to handle:

    “Whom do men say that I am?”

    We can restructure this sentence as “Men say that I am he.” (If you’re confused about why it’s correct to say “I am he” but not “I am him”, just trust me on it. It’s due to something called a “predicate adjective”, which has to match the subject in case.)

    Well, according to our test, since “he” works in the sentence but not “him”, we should use the word “who”.

    So, why does the KJV say “whom” when that’s grammatically incorrect?

    Pretty much, in some other languages, including Greek and Latin, there’s something called the “accusative plus the infinitive”. This is a grammar rule that sounds very foreign in English but is entirely normal in Latin and Greek.

    To give you an example of how the “accusative plus the infinitive” works, look at the two following English sentences:

    (normal sentence) “Who do men say that I am?”

    (accusative plus the infinitive) “Whom do men say me to be?”

    In the original Greek, a literal translation would look closer to the second option. And, this would fit with our rule from before because we could reword it as “Men say him to be…” It sounds really weird in English, but it technically is grammatically correct.

    So, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “whom” could sometimes be used in the way that the KJV uses it, because of influence from both Latin and Greek. Specifically, it says that the use of whom is a “partial imitation of the accusative [plus the] infinitive construction in the biblical source”.

    And Matthew 16:13 is not the only place that the King James Version uses whom like this. You can also find it in places like Mark 8:27 and Luke 9:20.

    In the end, it is technically a grammar error to use whom in the way shown in the KJV. But, it seems like it was an intentional error, where they just wanted to give a weird sounding, somewhat literal translation.

  • The Four Songs In Luke’s Gospel And Their Latin Names

    When reading through the first two chapters of Luke, you’ll notice four separate times when people (or angels) break into song.

    Each of these songs is typically known by its name in Latin. This is because the Catholic Church pretty much only used Latin translations of the Bible for a long time. And they’re the ones who included these songs as commonly sung hymns.

    Mary’s Magnificat

    Now, the first one, which you’re likely most familiar with, is Mary’s song: the Magnificat.

    Why is it called the Magnificat? Well, in the Vulgate (the Latin translation of the Bible prepared by Jerome in the late 300s AD) the first word of Mary’s song is Magnificat.

    In Latin, Magnificat means “it magnifies”. It comes from the words magnus, meaning “great” and facere, meaning “to make”.

    So, “to magnify” is literally “to make great”.

    Luke 1:46 reads:

    46 Et ait Maria: Magnificat anima mea Dominum 

    46 And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord

    Zechariah’s Benedictus

    Next, we see the song of Zechariah.

    The first word of his song in Latin is Benedictus.

    Benedictus means “blessed” and itself comes from two other Latin words, bene, meaning “well”, and dictus, meaning “said”. So, it literally means something like “spoken well of”. But we normally just translate it as “blessed”.

    His song begins in Luke 1:68:

    68 Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, quia visitavit, et fecit redemptionem plebis suae

    68 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
    For He has visited and redeemed His people

    The Angels’ Gloria In Excelsis Deo

    When the angels are announcing the birth of the Savior to the shepherds, they make a quick statement/song that takes up all of one verse.

    In the Vulgate, this song starts with the phrase Gloria in altissimis Deo. As you can tell, that’s slightly different than the popular title of the song: Gloria In Excelsis Deo.

    So, why the difference?

    Well, it seems that there was a certain other Roman Christian who lived a few decades before Jerome compiled the Vulgate. This Christian (some speculate it was Hilary of Poitiers) decided to translate the Greek word hypsístois (meaning “highest”) as excelsis.

    And that’s a plenty good translation. Excelsis does mean “highest” in Latin. But, when Jerome translated the Greek texts a few decades later, he decided to translate it as the Latin word altissimis, which is another word for “highest”.

    In the end, the slightly older translation ended up sticking, so that’s why we still call this song Gloria In Excelsis Deo and not Gloria In Altissimis Deo.

    Luke 2:14 reads:

    14 Gloria in altissimis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.

    14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

    Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis

    Finally, when the baby Jesus is presented at the temple, a man named Simeon breaks into a song praising God.

    The Latin translation of his song starts with the words Nunc dimittis servum tuum, which literally means “now you dismiss your servant” or “now you send away your slave”.

    This song starts in Luke 2:29:

    29 Nunc dimittis servum tuum Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace

    29 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,
    According to Your word

    Conclusion

    So, we’ve got four famous songs in the first couple chapters of Luke’s Gospel. All four of them are commonly known by their Latin names: the Magnificat, the Benedictus, Gloria In Excelsis Deo, and Nunc Dimittis.