A Blessing in Blood

A Blessing in Blood A Blessing in Blood A Blessing in Blood By Maeve Maddox The English words blessing and blood are closely related. Old English blod came from P.Gmc *blodam, a word that in a still earlier form may have meant to swell, gush, spurt, or that which bursts out. The English word blood has cognates in several other languages: German: Blut Dutch: bloed Swedish: blod Danish: blod Norwegian: blod Yiddish: blut Old English bletsia, bledsian, bloedsian, meant to consecrate, make holy, give thanks. The P.Gmc form of the word was *blothisojan, mark with blood. The word bless is unique to English. Originally used for the act of sprinkling a pagan altar with blood, the word was adopted by Christian translators to render into English Latin benedicere and Greek eulogein which had been used to translate Hebrew brk, to bend (the knee) in the act of worship. Towards the end of the OE period, bledsian took on the meaning make happy because of the words resemblance to OE blià °s, bliss, merriment, happiness, grace, favor. Bliss comes from a P.Gmc. word meaning gentle, kind, as does blithe. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Good At, Good In, and Good With50 Idioms About Roads and PathsHow Verbs Become Adjectives