Christmas Etymologies: Mary

 This Christmas, I selected Mary as the theme of my etymologies.  Please note that this is not a Bible study, but an etymology study of the English words used in the story of Mary from the Gospel of Luke.  With the exception of the name, Mary, none of these etymologies touch on the Greek words used in the original text. Because of the nature of this post, I discourage you using it to draw interpretations or applications from Mary’s character or circumstances.  

Mary - As the name of a Jewish woman in Israel, is predictably from Hebrew, Miriam, literally “rebellious”, from the root mârâh, which means “to be bitter, to rebel, to be disobedient, to resist, provoke, change”.  

blessed - This word has been a part of English since the 12th century, meaning “supremely happy” or “consecrated and holy”.  From bless, Old English bletsian, “to consecrate by sprinkling blood”.  It shares the same root as blood. The definition having to do with happiness is newer, and was probably influenced by the unrelated bliss.  

blood - A word from the Proto-Germanic *blodham, also meaning “blood”.  Perhaps came from a Proto-Indo-European root for “that which bursts out”, *bhlo-to-, also the proposed root of bloom and blow.  

bliss - Since Old English days, this word has has meant “bliss, merriment, happiness, grace, favor", from Proto-Germanic *blithiz, “gentle, kind”.  It was probably influenced to have a more spiritual or heavenly idea of happiness because of its similarity to bless.  

favor - First an Old French term: “a favor; approval, praise; applause; partiality”, favor comes from Latin favorem, “good will, inclination, partiality, support", coined by Cicero from favere "to show kindness to", from Proto-Indo-European *ghow-e- "to honor, revere, worship". Etymologists believe the Old Norse word ga, "to heed", comes from the same Proto-Indo-European root.  

maidservant - This compound word shows up in English in the 1520’s.  

maid - “Unmarried, young”, maid often referring to a virgin woman.  It was, in its early decades, used as a sort of shorthand for the Virgin Mary.  The term was also early on applied to young unmarried men, but not anymore. Shortened from maiden, which is in Old English mægden, with essentially the same meaning. The -en is a diminutive - that is, it comes from a word meaning woman, and the suffix tells us it is a little woman, or a younger woman.  But this word for woman, mægeð, also had a connotation of inexperience, or of one yet "growing in power". From a Proto-Indo-European root *maghu, which referred to young people of either sex, and became the root of words in other languages for “unmarried”, “slave”, or in Old English, “son, male descendant, child”.  I think the Old Irish, maug, meaning “slave” is one of the most interesting cognates, given the late evolution in English of maiden into maid, meaning “domestic servant, housekeeper”.  

servant - From the root serve, servant appeared in 12th century English as “to render habitual obedience to”.  From Old French servir "to do duty toward, show devotion to; set table, serve at table; offer, provide with”.  In many cases, the Latin root of this French word was used of slaves, not only people rendering voluntary service. There is debate about the origin of this Latin word, servire.  Is it from Etruscan names? From a sense of "binding", as in Latin sero? Or is it from a Proto-Italic word meaning “to heed and observe, to shepherd”?  

woman - One of the most ordinary words in our modern English language, the etymology of this Late Old English word, then spelled wimman, is interesting and contested.  Most etymologists think that the earlier form was wifman, an obviously compound word attested in literature.  Man, at that period,  meant “a human”. Wif meant “woman”, revealing that the Late Old English (and our word, too), is a silly compound literally meaning “woman-man”.  Other etymologists speculate that rather than wifman, woman derived from womb-man.  Other languages have such terms, but none of the sources I read were able to cite examples of this progression in English.  Some etymologists believe wif comes from the same root as weave, and refers to a woman's role in medieval English homes as a weaver of clothes. Others suggest a root meaning "to tremble".  Digging further back, other etymologists suggest wif comes from Proto-Germanic *wiban, also meaning “woman”.  (It took a while for wif to specifically refer to a married woman.)  We deduce from the fact that speakers made the word wifman that wif alone at that time didn’t do enough standing alone to communicate “woman”.  But we’re not sure why. Nor do etymologists have consensus whence the Proto-Germanic word comes.  

womb - The Old English ancestor of this word referred to “the womb, belly, or even the heart”?!  From Proto-Germanic *wambo, the source mostly of other Germanic languages’ “womb” words, but also in Old English the root of a word for “child”, umbor.  Most likely comes from a root meaning "bulge" or "swelling". 

magnify - Our English word hasn’t changed much from Latin’s magnificare "esteem greatly, extol, make much of”.  Ultimately, it comes from a combination of two Proto-Indo-European roots, *meg- "great" and *dhe- "to set, put". The predecessor to magnificare in Latin meant “someone who does great deeds”.  Unlike many other words having to do with praise, magnifying almost cannot invent virtue; it must be earned - just like a magnifying glass cannot make a small thing to exist, but only draw attention to it.  

Sources: www.etymonline.com

An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter William Skeat

With reference to a few other old etymological dictionaries. 

To God be all glory.

Self-Determination at What Expense?

You wake up in the passenger seat of a car. The driver has abducted you. You’re in pain, and disoriented. After a moment, you realize you are bleeding badly. By the grace of God you overcome the driver within a few blocks of the hospital and take control of the car. If you don’t get to the emergency room soon, you could die. The problem is, you’re in traffic; pedestrians are crossing at the crosswalk ahead. If you don’t run them over, you know that your time is short, and you might not even survive to make it to the hospital. You are in this horrible situation through no fault of your own. Is there any way you could justify choosing to run over the innocent people in the crosswalk?

To God be all glory.

Bramble Bake

I can hardly believe I'm writing this, because I am generally very conservative (literally) about words.  I try not to change them.  In my opinion, this aids in communication, and communication is much more important to me than words - even though words are beautiful and exciting treasure-maps... I digress.

About a year ago, I discovered Baked French Toast.  That stuff is good, and it is so much easier than frying bread a few slices at a time.  It isn't French Toast.  It probably shouldn't even say "French Toast" in the name, since it isn't fried in butter, and that's an important distinction.

Then in the spring I was researching recipes for my friends' annual potluck St. Patrick's Day party, and I ran across a recipe for bread pudding that sounded a whole lot like Baked French Toast.  So I did some research.  Yep.  Same thing.  Also, if you don't use cream and you make it more savory, it's the same thing as "dressing" (or, if you put it inside a bird you're roasting, "stuffing") at Thanskgiving and Christmas.  It is even basically  identical to Monkey Bread.

If you get really broad, maybe even what we call "casseroles" could be in the same category.  A starch is chopped up, mixed with other sweet or savory fillings, soaked in a sauce, and baked.

One of my friends long ago persuaded me that "casserole" is a yucky word.  This was at the same time that I was first considering eating them.  The best alternative term we could come up with was "hot dish", that some small sections of our country use for the same thing.  But it sounds so pedantic.

Enter "bramble bake".  Today.  I saw a recipe on Pinterest for a "Blueberry Bramble Bake", which, it turned out, was a bread pudding with blueberries and cream cheese.  But the name, as the Dread Pirate Roberts and Anne of Green Gables would agree, is the important thing, and "bramble bake" rang in my ears.  I hoped that it simply already was the elusive term I'd been waiting for.  Maybe it was, except that none of the rest of the world realized.

Back in history - and history about words matters to me - it seems that it meant something baked out of the fruit of a thorny shrub, like blackberries are.  "Bramble" is a word for such a plant, and it conjures images of tangled branches, blends of depth and shadow, sprinkled with a surprise of sweetness or other sharp point here and there.  And after people grew tired of only using the phrase for actual bramble pastries, it came to be applied to things baked with other berries.

Here's where we enter the scene.  Because "bramble" is a lovely metaphor for the collection of flavors and textures jumbled together and baked, I am inviting you to join me in using "bramble bake" to describe all of the things in this blog: baked French toasts, bread puddings, dressings and stuffings, casseroles and hot dishes.

What are your favorite bramble bakes?

To God be all glory.

Parents and the Barren and Expectations

When people say "before I was a parent, I expected _____ about raising kids, but now..." What it kind of sounds like to me is "don't bother spending these waiting years preparing to be a good parent; you'll only get it wrong." Thing is, I sincerely disagree.

I know preparation isn't the same as living it. But the solution to the barren thinking they would never let their kids throw fits in grocery stores is to share your experience, not put them down for trying to plan well and aim for good things. I think it is a huge problem that many people enter parenthood with so little experience, training (discipleship), or intentionality. They have no idea what are reasonable expectations.

On the other hand, believe it or not, many childless people have lots of experience interacting with non-ideal children. Some have seen lots of different homes and had more time and less personal investment (defensiveness) to synthesize what they've learned. It isn't everything. It is NO justification for them being arrogant or judgmental. But God seemed to put parents together with non-parents, in community, so maybe we could learn from each other and encourage one another instead of silencing our companions.

To God be all glory.

How Jesus Sounds

I have never realized it before, and perhaps that’s a ridiculous fact, since I’ve read the gospels over and over, heard Sunday school stories and sermons and Christian songs for decades.  But just tonight I realized how easy it is to relate to so many different people Jesus spoke to while on earth.

Here’s how I described them on Facebook earlier, and I relate to every single type, at least a little:

[I’m] remembering what Jesus sounds like, to mothers and rich young rulers and zealous disciples and grieving women, to those sitting at His feet and those longing to be healed, to the inquirers who aren't sure there's hope for them, to askers of silly questions, to doubters and fearers and sinners and strivers. To little children and we who aspire to be like them. To goad-kickers and prison-wait-ers.

To God be all glory.

In Defense of Like-Mindedness on Social Media

There is a popular idea coming out of our analysis of the new thing that is social media: that social media’s tendency to make echo chamber, confirmation-bias-reinforcing bubbles is a bad thing for growing as human beings.  I don’t think this concept is entirely without merit. But I think it may depend on the type of person you and your friends are.

First of all, I have observed the use of social media for things that have nothing to do with affirming preconceived ideas, unless it is the idea that one’s own children are cute and that their grandparents enjoy pictures of them.  There are other social media users who only exchange amusing morphed pictures of their faces with friends, or who only play games using the platforms, or watch and share Grumpy Cat memes. Some people basically only use their social media as a platform for marketing their business.  The lesson to be learned from this fact is that social media’s effect is, in part, a consequence of how you use it. This is hopeful, because it means we can choose how to act based on the kinds of outcomes we aspire to.

We can be the kind of people about whom the sociologists warn, who use Facebook only to get “likes” from people who agree with us, and to read the simple slogans of others who are stating thoughts we’ve already had (or adopted).  We can steer clear of anything that we’re not sure our group would agree with, and berate anyone in our network who dares to publish statements or photos or videos that the “group” hasn’t accepted.

Or, if we want to be the kind of people who learn and are able to be corrected, we can pursue that goal.  

I am struggling with the argument that in order to be this kind of social media wielder, one must network with people whose ideas are radically opposed to one’s own.  I believe my struggle comes from two main places: that I am a minority among my friends, when considering the kinds of topics I like to discuss on Facebook; and also that it is proper to discriminate in personal friendships against people who are fools.  

I know that, relative to Americans at large, my circles look like a very small-minded bubble.  Most of my friends are, like me, Christians, pro-life, compassionate, and lovers of freedom. But I am actually in a minority for my beliefs and morals even among my own several hundred Facebook friends.  My religious and political views, standards of human behavior, ideals for life and society, principles of economics - are all things that I am at odds with almost everyone about. The differences may be nuanced, but they are real.  This being the case, I experience being almost constantly challenged by my associates. And where I am not contradicted, I am exposed to aspects of the topics that I haven’t considered before, or haven’t delved into. I hypothesize that most people who are interested in thinking deeply on these subjects, and applying them to life, have a similar experience.  

Also, I have exposure to the larger world’s ideas through colleagues and clients at work, through shopping, watching TV and movies, and advertising - enough to know that there are ideas different than mine and different than what I witness on social media.  In addition to being a comfort when I feel inundated by foreign values and beliefs in my larger culture, it is also helpful to have some people closer to my values to help me evaluate and respond to these disagreements with the world around me in a constructive, insightful way.  

My familiarity with the “other sides” isn’t complete!  I still have moments where I realize I had assumed most people had a common experience or universal understanding of a thing - and it wasn’t true!  Everyone lives in a sort of social bubble, no matter how hard we try!

The Bible teaches that the people that we spend a lot of time with will have influence over us.  It warns that “the companion of fools will be destroyed” and “he who walks with wise men will be wise”, that “evil company corrupts good morals”, and “what fellowship has light [those made alive by the work and grace of Jesus] with darkness [those who remain in rebellion against God and its corresponding delusions and weaknesses]”.  Thus, I think it is wise to exclude from among my frequent influencers and counselors those whom I discern to be wicked and foolish. I lament that this is the state of our nation: that there are millions who would debate about simple and obvious things like whether to allow murder of some humans; that there are people so given to their own pleasure that they do not care to evaluate their desires or philosophies (but talk about them anyway).  I wish that we could instead be pooling the wisdom (or at least humble curiosity) of God-fearing and thoughtful* people in order to solve harder questions.

*Not every God-fearing person can be classified as thoughtful, and that’s just fine, as long as it is moderate, and as long as non-thoughtful people aren’t trying to have public, in-depth dialogue on subjects where thought is needed.  Being a thoughtful person, I believe it is good to have at least some substantial portion of my acquaintance also be deep thinkers.

I believe it is OK, if you are using social media for discussion of important topics, to have some friends who aren’t wise and good.  I’m not a strict isolationist. I would advocate that we keep a prayerful, vigilant watch on the balance of friends and those we follow or subscribe to who are, on the one hand, able to sharpen us and, on the other hand, those who pull us away from good thinking and good acting.  This is true even if social media is, for you, a less profound venture, because any shared experience can build bonds that sway your priorities, even shared fun or simple everyday comments. It may be fine for the proportions to be different if you use the platforms for more lighthearted purposes. But because of the power of words and precepts, it is more important to have the majority of those whom you engage on that level be good companions.  If the majority of your interactions on these deeper issues are outside of social media with a group of friends whose influence is more positive, it may also be acceptable to dabble in social media exchanges with less upright people.

I tend towards viewing interactions with wicked fools as condescending (hopefully with as little hypocrisy as possible), and as rescue missions.  This can be a good way to guard against taking them in as “companions”. But, since even “blind squirrels find nuts” - and because in many ways, I am yet also a “blind squirrel”, it is useful to be open to new revelations brought through these people.  At the very least, conversing with them can improve our understanding of them and the experiences that have formed them (and may have formed others in our society, including ourselves).

How do we know if we are discerning which people are wise and good, versus which are foolish and wicked?  That’s not something I want to write about right now, but it is something worth considering, with an allowance that we may not be perfect at it, in principle or practice.  

In conclusion, I appreciate my social media (primarily Facebook) experience, but also benefit from reminders to be careful that I am using it to build wisdom, rather than pride.  And I hope that others can, as well.

To God be all glory.