bless的词源

英文词源

bless

bless: [OE] Bless occurs in no other language than English, and originally meant ‘mark with blood’, from some sort of religious rite in which such marking conferred sanctity. It probably goes back to a prehistoric Germanic formation *blōthisōjan, a derivative of *blōtham ‘blood’, which was taken up by no Germanic language other than Old English. Here it produced blētsian, which by the 13th century had become blesse. The word’s connotations of ‘happiness’ and ‘well-being’, which go back at least to the year 1000, were probably influenced by the etymologically unrelated bliss.
=> blood

bless (v.)

Old English bletsian, bledsian, Northumbrian bloedsian "to consecrate, make holy, give thanks," from Proto-Germanic *blodison "hallow with blood, mark with blood," from *blotham "blood" (see blood (n.)). Originally a blood sprinkling on pagan altars. This word was chosen in Old English bibles to translate Latin benedicere and Greek eulogein, both of which have a ground sense of "to speak well of, to praise," but were used in Scripture to translate Hebrew brk "to bend (the knee), worship, praise, invoke blessings." L.R. Palmer ("The Latin Language") writes, "There is nothing surprising in the semantic development of a word denoting originally a special ritual act into the more generalized meanings to 'sacrifice,' 'worship,' 'bless,'" and compares Latin immolare (see immolate). Meaning shifted in late Old English toward "pronounce or make happy," by resemblance to unrelated bliss. No cognates in other languages. Related: Blessed; blessing.

中文词源

bless（祝福）：古代欧洲的“血祭”习俗

英语单词bless与blood（血）同源，本指基督教创立之前，欧洲人用鲜血来祭祀神明的做法，字面意思是“用血来祭祀、神化”。基督教传入欧洲后，血祭的做法逐渐消失，bless一词只剩下“祭祀、神化”之意。

在将《圣经》翻译为英文时，翻译者将希伯来语中的brk（跪拜、崇拜、赞美、求福）一词翻译为英语单词bless，所以bless又含有了希伯来语brk的含义，表示人对神的崇拜、赞美和祈求福佑。后来，受到英语单词bliss（福佑、天赐之福）的影响，bless的词义逐渐变成了“祝福、保佑、赞美”的意思，其宾语从神变成了人。

bless：[bles] vt.祝福，保佑，赞美

blessing：['blesɪŋ] n.祝福，福佑

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：bless 词源，bless 含义。

bless：祝福

词源同blood, 来自宗教概念中的以血祝圣，如基督教圣餐礼中以葡萄酒代血，称为圣血。

bless：祝福，祈福

究其根源，bless和blood（血）有些亲缘关系，甚而可以说是出自同源的词。bless在古英语作bletsian， bledsian，原义为to consecrate by means of blood sacrifice（以血祭圣化）。古时祭献往往采取血祭的形式，因为献祭者认为血的潜能可以使土地肥沃，可以洗涤罪污、赎免罪愆。嗣后，宗教祭献不再用活牲作祭品，词义中所含的“血祭”这一成分也就随之消失，这样该词就作“使神圣化”解了。到了13世纪时词的形式演变为blessen。后来由于人们将它与bliss（极乐，天赐之福）一词相联系，所以又被赋予了“祝福”、“祈福”等义。

bless：祝福，保佑，为…祈神赐福，使有幸得到

来源于日耳曼语blotham(血)。

同源词：blood, bloody, bleed