Amen

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This article is about the interjection. For other uses, see Amen (disambiguation).

The word Amen (Hebrew: אָמֵן, Standard Amen Tiberian ’Amen ; Arabic: آمين‎, ’Āmīn ; "So be it; truly"[1]) is a declaration of affirmation[2][3] found in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. [1] It has always been in use within Judaism. It has been generally adopted in Christian worship as a concluding formula for prayers and hymns.[3] In Islam, it is the standard ending to Dua (Supplication). Common English translations of the word amen include: "Verily", "Truly", "So be it", and "Let it be".[1] It can also be used colloquially to express strong agreement[3], as in, for instance, amen to that.[4].


Contents

[edit] Etymology

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Please see the discussion on the talk page.
This section has been tagged since December 2007.

Amen, meaning so be it, is of Hebrew origin.[5][6] The word was imported into the Greek of the early Church from the Jewish synagogue.[2][7] From Greek, amen entered the other Western languages. According to a standard dictionary etymology, amen passed from Greek into Late Latin, and thence into English.[8]

The Hebrew word ’amen derives from the Hebrew verb ’aman, a primitive root.[9] Grammarians frequently list ’aman under its three consonants (’mn), which are identical to those of ’amen .[8] This triliteral root (’mn) means to be firm, confirmed, reliable, faithful, have faith, believe. Two English words that derive from this root are:

a. amen, from Hebrew ’amen (=truly, certainly); b. Mammon, from Aramaic mamona, probably from Mishnaic Hebrew mamôn, probably from earlier *ma’mon (=? “security, deposit”).

Both a and b derive from Hebrew ’aman (=to be firm).[10]

It has been proposed that Amen is a derivative of the name of an Egyptian god named Amen (Amun).[citation needed]

[edit] Biblical usages

Three distinct Biblical usages of amen may be noted:

  1. Initial Amen, referring back to words of another speaker and introducing an affirmative sentence, e.g. 1 Kings 1:36; Revelation 22:20.[2]
  2. Detached Amen, again referring to the words of another speaker but without a complementary affirmative sentence, e.g. Nehemiah 5:13; Revelation 5:14 (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:16).[2]
  3. Final Amen, with no change of speaker, as in the subscription to the first three divisions of the Psalter and in the frequent doxologies of the New Testament Epistles.[2]

[edit] Amen in Judaism

Jewish law and practice require an individual to say Amen in a variety of contexts.

Liturgically, amen is a communal response to be recited at certain points during the prayer service. It is recited communally to affirm a blessing made by the prayer reader. It is also mandated as a response during the kaddish doxology. The congregation is sometimes prompted to answer 'amen' by the terms ve-'imru (Hebrew: ואמרו) = "and [now] say (pl.)," or, ve-nomar (ונאמר) = "and let us say."

Individuals are required to answer amen whenever they hear a blessing recited, even in a non-liturgical setting. Amen is also used whenever an individual wishes to fulfill his own obligation through another person’s recitation of a prayer or blessing.

The Talmud teaches hermeneutically that the word Amen can be read as an acronym for אל מלך נאמן (’El melekh ne’eman), meaning "God, trustworthy King."[11] The word amen itself is etymologically related to the Hebrew word emuna ("faith") implying that one is affirming with, and of, "the faith" of Judaism (and its belief in Monotheism).

Jews usually pronounce the word as it is pronounced in Hebrew: "uh-MAIN" (Ashkenazi) or "ah-MÉN" (Sephardi).

[edit] Amen in Christianity

The uses of amen ("verily") in the Gospels form a peculiar class; they are initial, but often lack any backward reference.[12] Jesus used the word to affirm his own utterances, not those of another person, and this usage was adopted by the church. The liturgical use of the word in apostolic times is attested by the passage from 1 Corinthians cited above, and Justin Martyr (c. 150) describes the congregation as responding "amen," to the benediction after the celebration of the Eucharist.[2] Its introduction into the baptismal formula (in the Greek Orthodox Church it is pronounced after the name of each person of the Trinity) is probably later. Among certain Gnostic sects Amen became the name of an angel.

In the King James Bible, the word amen is preserved in a number of contexts. Notable ones include:

In some Christian churches, the amen corner or amen section is any subset of the congregation likely to call out "Amen!" in response to points in a preacher's sermon. Metaphorically, the term can refer to any group of heartfelt traditionalists or supporters of an authority figure.

In English, the word "amen" has two pronunciations, ah-men or ay-men. The ah-men pronunciation is usual in British English, the one that is used in performances of classical music, in churches with more formalized rituals and liturgy and liberal Evangelical Protestant denominations. The ay-men pronunciation, a product of the Great Vowel Shift dating to the 15th century, is associated with Irish Protestantism and conservative Evangelical Protestant denominations generally, and the pronunciation that is typically sung in gospel music. Increasingly Anglophone Roman Catholics are adopting the "ay-men" pronunciation for speech, although the broad "ah" is usually retained for singing.

Amen is also used in standard, international French; however, in the Cajun French dialect, Ansi soit-il (literally, so be it) is used instead.

[edit] Amen in Islam

Muslims use the word "’Āmīn" (Arabic: آمين‎) not only after reciting the first surah (Al Fatiha) of the Qur'an, but also when concluding a prayer or duaa, with the same meaning as in Christianity[citation needed]. However not all Muslims share in this verbal tradition. The word Amen is not found anywhere in the Holy Quran.

[edit] Amen in Ancient Egypt

In Egyptian, amen means to hide or conceal. The term also means to make firm, to establish, to fortify; the right hand, right side, western; to keep secret, mysterious.

The Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary[13] gives the following definition among several other meanings:

Image:amen5.jpg

To some, this indicates a relationship to the Hebrew word Amen.[citation needed]

Amen (also spelled Amun, Amon, Ammon, Aman, or Hammon) is the name of an ancient Egyptian deity (see Amun.)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Etymology of the word “Amen”. D.Messaoudi. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Amen. Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
  3. ^ a b c Amen. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
  4. ^ Microsoft Encarta Dictionary Tools. Retrieved 20 August 2007
  5. ^ Paul Joüon, SJ, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew, trans. and revised by T. Muraoka, vol. I, Rome: Editrice Pontificio Instituto Biblico, 2000.
  6. ^ G281. Strong's Concordance. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
  7. ^ Amen. Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  8. ^ a b Amen. American Heritage Dictionary. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
  9. ^ King James Bible Strong's Hebrew Dictionary. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Fourth Edition.. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
  11. ^ Shab. 119b; Sanh. 111a
  12. ^ Amen. Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
  13. ^ Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge. Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary. Retrieved on 2008-02-22.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen"
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