The Origin of the English Language Word "Goodbye"

        The English language word, Goodbye, a "parting word"used grammatically as an adverbial phrase, is derived from "Godbwye" a shortened form of the Old English phrase God þē mid sīe: (in modern English: "God be with you.")  God  (God) þē ("thou" = "to you") mid ("with") sīe: (a form of "to be").

        The first known recorded occurrence of the word was in 1573 when it was used by the English scholar and poet, Gabriel Harvey. Harvey often wrote in Latin, claimed to have invented the English language hexameter format of poetry, and coined these English language words: "rascality," "extensively," "conscious," "jovial," "notoriety," and "idiom."

Theophoric Names

Often, we fail to recognize that many personal and family names also have religious origins. Many are easy to see when we actually look. Others require a little effort.

Surnames originating in Western culture are of several types: occupational (example: Baker), relating to a place (example: Lincoln), relating to a particular family trait (example : Jolly), named for historical people (example: Kennedy), sarcastic or silly names (examples: Naaktgeboren (“born naked”), family relationships (example: Harrison), animal names (example: Bird), emotions: (example: Love), vulgar names (example: Mist, translate this name from German to English), and other types of name origins. This post will present a few names of theophoric origin.   

Surnames and personal names in the Far East appear to be based primarily on nature or philosophical concepts.

Chinese surnames http://www.yutopian.net/names/, Japanese surnames http://surnames.behindthename.com/names/usage/japanese, and Korean surnames https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_name appear to be primarily based on philosophy or nature.

θεόφορος (theophoros) is a Greek word meaning “God bearing.” The word “theophoric” in English is used of pronames, surnames, and place names which have religious origins. This blog has a recurrent segment profiling religious place names. 

The religious meanings of most of the ancient biblical personal names are known, including those of the foes of the Israelites and early Christians. An example is Tiglath-pileser III, King of Assyria (745 - 727BC).  He is mentioned in 2 Kings 15:19 and 2 Kings 15:29. His Assyrian name is Tukulti-apil-esharra, which translates as "my trust is in the son of Esharra." Esharra is Ashur, the main god of the Assyrian pantheon.

Following is a listing of several theophoric surnames occurring in English language usage. The religious origins of some of the surnames is readily obvious, some are more indirect:  Benjamin, Aaron, Abraham, Isaacson, Bishop, Abbot, Church, Grace, Eglise, Bartolo, Sofer (Hebrew  = "scribe"), Dayyan (Hebrew = "Jewish civil judge"), Abdullah (Arabic = "slave of Allah"), di Moise, di Angelo, Kohen/Cohen (Hebrew = "priest"), Simon, Stephens, Dennis (Latin = "of Dionysus") Godwin/Godwynn, Goodwin, Goodwyn (Old English = "God's friend"), Gotfried/Gottfried, Holiness, Nunmaker, Faith, Kirk (Scottish = "church"), Angel, Theodore (Greek = "gift of God"), Oden  (Swedish form of Odin, the main Norse god), Johnson ("son of John". John is derived from the Hebrew personal name Yohannan, which means "Yahweh is gracious"), Christian, Soul, Monk, St. James, Zacharias, and many others.  

Religious Place Names

Pomona, California State, USA: Named for the ancient Roman goddess of fruit.

Shiloh, Tennessee State, USA: Named for the ancient Israelite religious site, nine miles north of Bethel. The modern site of the ancient Shiloh is a mound of ruins named Khirbet Seilun.

Tewin, England: Named for the ancient Norse god Tyr. The name comes from Tyr plus
"ing" (meadow) or "ingas" (people belonging to)."

Weedon Lois, England: From the Old English words "weo" (temple) plus "dun" (hill). "Lois" comes from the local religious figure, Saint Loys.

Nymph, Alabama State, USA: Nymphs were minor nature deities of ancient Latin and Greek mythology. They were depicted as beautiful and amorous young maidens who loved to dance and sing. The word "nymph" has been said to mean "a rosebud" or "a swelling" (as in "pregnant"), connoting fertility.

The Lord's Prayer in Numerous Languages

This page has translations of the Lord's Prayer in numerous languages. Those who speak or read English should look at the prayer as written in the Old English of the year 1000. There is also an audio file of the prayer spoken in Old English.

http://www.prayer.su/other/all-languages.html

Religious Place Names

Theophoric names are a recognized category within onomastics, the study of place name origins.  They are names in which the name of a god or deity is embedded.  The word “theophoric” is derived from the Greek words θεός (theos = god) and φορός (phoros = tribute), a God tribute, bearing the  name of a god).  Theophorisms also occur in personal names such as Apollodorus, Theophrastus, Joel, Uzza, Manaf, Masih, Dorothy, Elizabeth, Bogomil, Michael, Christopher, Nathaniel, Timothy, Judah, Oswald, Marcus, Abijam, Ingrid, Daniel, Abdullah, and Rahman, among many others.

Odense, Denmark: From Odins Ve (“Odin’s shrine).

Osmussaar, Estonia: The Swedish name of this city was Odensholm.

Audresselles, France: Originally, the name of this commune was Oderzell, from Odin.

Ullefoss, Norway: From Ullr, the Norse deity of the hunt, plus “foss,” Norwegian for “waterfall.”

Tuesley, England: The name of this village is of Old English origin.  Tiw/Tig/Tyr, the god of law and heroic justice, plus “leah,” a clearing.

Religious Place Names

Deseret, Utah, USA: In The Book of Mormon, “deseret” means “honeybee.”  The word comes from the book of Ether 2:3 in the Book of Mormon.  Mormons say that is in the language of the Jaredites.  Most historians doubt the existence of the Jaredites.

Grimscote, England:  Old English for “Grim’s Cot.”  Grim was an alternate name for the Norse deity Odin or Woden.

Harrow on the Hill, England: The Old English name of this town was Gumeninga hergae (temple of the Gumeninga tribe).  A “herg” was a “temple.” This word is the derivation of “harrow.”  The suffix “ingas” means “the people belonging to” and “Gumen” was a man’s name.

Weeford, England: The Old English word “weoh” means “holy.”

Kirkharle, England: This name of this town is of Old English origin.  “Kirk” means “church.”  “Harle” has two possible origins: 1. “Herela lea” (Herela’s grove) or 2. “herg leah” (temple grove). 

Religious Place Names

Iosepa, Hawaii, USA: “Iosepa” is the Hawaiian language version of the name “Joseph.”  The town is named for Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons).

Mahabarata, Nepal: Named for the Mahabarata, one of the ancient Sanskrit language holy books of Hinduism.

Tewin, England: Named for the Norse god, Tyr (aka: Tiw) plus “ing,”  “a meadow.”  Tyr was the Norse god of single-handed combat and victory.

Thundersley, England: From the Old English, Thunor’s leah (Sacred grove of Thunor).  Thunor was a variant name of Thor, the Norse god of thunder.

Shiloh, Tennessee, USA: Named for the ancient Ephraimite city of Shiloh, located about 12 miles northeast of Bethel, in the land of Canaan..  Judges 21:19.  The modern name of ancient Shiloh is Khirbet Seilun in the West Bank..  A “khirbet” is a “ruin on a hill.”

Biblical Sources of Phrases in Common Use: Time Heals All Wounds

Although "Time heals all wounds" sounds as if it might be of biblical origin, it is not. It is probably from Geoffrey Chaucer (1304? - 1400), "As tyme hem hurt, a tyme doth hem cure." (Modern English paraphrase: As time causes hurt, time heals) or, more likely, Menander (342 BC/BCE - 291 BC/BCE), in Fragments dclxxvii, "ράνṯων ἰαṯρὸς ṯῷν ἀναγκαίων κακῷν χρόνος ἐσṯίν" Translation: "Time is the healer of all necessary evils."