the.com/blessing
a wish with a bow on it, dressed up as cosmic intervention.
means A favor, approval, or expression of goodwill, often invoking divine or higher protection over someone or something.
from From Old English bletsian, earlier blÅdsian, meaning to consecrate — and the root is gorgeously literal: it traces back to blÅd, 'blood,' because early consecration meant sprinkling sacrificial blood on an altar. When English-speaking Christians needed words for sacred ideas, this native blood-word got pulled toward the gentler Latin benedicere ('to speak well of'), so 'blessing' quietly absorbed the sense of a kind word said over someone. The bloody origin faded; the goodwill stayed.
- sneeze origin
- Bless you may predate plague-fear by centuries
- hidden insult
- Bless your heart can mean pure contempt
- word roots
- From Old English meaning to mark with blood
- disguised gift
- Blessing in disguise: misfortune that ages well
mother teresa beatification — albanian nun beatified in 1996, canonized in 2016 for work in calcutta
birkat kohanim — jewish priestly blessing performed in jerusalem temples since ancient times