Amen
pronunciation
How to pronounce Amen in British English:
UK [ˈɑ:men]
How to pronounce Amen in American English:
US [ˈɑmən]
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- Noun:
- a primeval Egyptian personification of air and breath; worshipped especially at Thebes
Word Origin
- amen
- amen: [OE] Amen was originally a Hebrew noun, āmēn ‘truth’ (based on the verb āman ‘strengthen, confirm’), which was used adverbially as an expression of confirmation or agreement. Biblical texts translated from Hebrew simply took it over unaltered (the Greek Septuagint has it, for example), and although at first Old English versions of the gospels substituted an indigenous term, ‘truly’, by the 11th century amen had entered English too.
- amen
- Old English, from Late Latin amen, from Ecclesiastical Greek amen, from Hebrew amen "truth," used adverbially as an expression of agreement (as in Deut. xxvii:26, I Kings i:36; compare Modern English verily, surely, absolutely in the same sense), from Semitic root a-m-n "to be trustworthy, confirm, support." Used in Old English only at the end of Gospels, otherwise translated as Soðlic! or Swa hit ys, or Sy! As an expression of concurrence after prayers, it is recorded from early 13c.
Example
- 1. Amen was simply one of many tools in the producer 's kitbag .
- 2. Why was amen so popular ?
- 3. But amen never went away .
- 4. But amen also has certain sonic qualities that set it aside from its rivals .
- 5. Eventually amen acquired critical mass ; producers used it because everyone else did .