Swear is one of those words that comes to us alllll the way from Old English. In its original (and still a surviving) meaning, it’s simply “to take an oath.” You may wonder, then, why it’s sometimes associated with “use bad language”? I know I have! That meaning is pretty ancient too, dating to the early 1400s. It’s thought to have developed because of the “invoking of sacred names” that comes with taking an oath.

There’s a pretty funny diatribe on the difference between swear and curse by an etymologist, which I shall here quote just for the fun of it:

[Swearing and cursing] are entirely different things : the first is invoking the witness of a Spirit to an assertion you wish to make ; the second is invoking the assistance of a Spirit, in a mischief you wish to inflict. When ill-educated and ill-tempered people clamorously confuse the two invocations, they are not, in reality, either cursing or swearing ; but merely vomiting empty words indecently. True swearing and cursing must always be distinct and solemn …. [Ruskin, “Fors Clavigera”]

So then. Swearing, by his definition, is an oath witnessed by God; whereas cursing is calling down ill on someone by the power of God or a less-holy entity.

When you look up mission in the dictionary, there are a LOT of definitions listed. A task a group is charged with. A calling or vocation. A group of people organized to carry out a certain task. A ministry. Then, in entry 5, you get the obsolete one: “the act of sending.”

Of course, if we’re looking at the history of a word, we should always start with the obsolete meaning, right? LOL.

Mission comes directly from the Latin missionem, which means “the act of sending, a dispatching; a release, a setting at liberty; discharge from service, dismissal.”

It’s literally a sending-forth. That’s also, obviously, where dismissal comes from. I hadn’t ever really examined the connection between those two until it was explained that the dismissal from a church service is not meant to be the pastor saying, “Okay, we’re done. Have a good day.” It’s literally saying, “You’ve now been filled with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God–go, take it into the world!”

A crucial distinction, isn’t it?

The word mission has been in English since the 1500s as “a sending forth.” By the 1640s, it referred to the organized effort of spreading the Gospel. The word mass is even older and from the same root, being the original word used for the religious service in which you receive communion and then are sent out into the world. Dismiss is from the early 1400s, but dismissal wasn’t created as a form until the 1790s! (Who knew?)

So remember, next time you leave a service, that we’re all sent out on a mission–to spread His light in the world.

I’ve shared the etymology of holiday before, back in 2011, but I figured ten years is enough time that I can revisit. 😉

I always find this one kind of funny…at least when people object to people saying “Happy Holidays!” instead of “Merry Christmas.” My opinion has always been that the joke is on anyone who thinks they’re avoiding the “religious” aspect of anything by using the word, given that it is quite literally just an elision of holy and day.

Yep. Pretty easy etymology on this one!

Holiday is an old word, dating from the 1300s, to mean “a holy day, consecrated day, religious anniversary.” Of course, a holy day meant a day when you were excused from your labors, so that sense of “a day without work” soon joined the idea as well.

Interestingly, in the mid 1800s, people in England would say “Happy Holidays” during the summer, in reference to school being out. It wasn’t until a 1930s Camel cigarette ad that anyone ever said “Happy Holidays” in reference to the Christmas season–who knew? (Though I maintin it makes sense when referring the season that encompasses Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Three holidays deserves the plural!)

Regardless, I pray you’re enjoying your holiday season and that you pause to reflect not just on the recreational aspect, but on the true meaning of the word — the holiness of the day we celebrate.

Decadent. I don’t know about you, but when I hear that word, I think of ooey-gooey chocolate … maybe caramel … something rich and satisfying and the highest heights of delightful.

Turns out, I’m a victim of a 1970s-and-onward advertising hijack of the word. Advertisers seized the word and began using it to describe desserts. The thing is … it doesn’t mean that at all.

What it actually means is “in a state of decline or decay (from a former condition of excellence).” It dates from the 1830s in English but is directly from a French word that means “decay.” Um … ew. Why are we using that for desserts??

Originally in English, the word was used to describe literary or artistic movements that were in a state of decline or past their heyday. Then it began to be used for pleasures that would only appeal to people of dubious morals or poor taste … and from there it just came to be associated with “pleasurable.”

Gotta love those words that have been totally flipped on their heads!