Touching the hearts of many, poets and authors over the centuries, have used words to equip, change and empower people. Words are powerful. They can either build the hearer up or tear them down. Words... why are we so fascinated with them? Because words help to communicate how you feel and what you think and how you love.
Recently, Mother brought a fascinating book to my attention. Simply entitled Words: A book about the origins of everyday words and phrases is a little gem of merely 64 pages. And yet, overflowing with astonishing amount of information.
Did you know?:
"By 1500, if you listened in on a conversation in England, with a bit of puzzling you could understand much of what was said. We call the language spoken then Modern English, our English. Of course, there were still many changes to come: changes in meaning, pronunciation, and especially in spelling. And many words were yet to become English. In Shakespeare's time, the late 1500s, there were about 200,000 English words. Now there are more than 600,000. Some of the words developed to fill new needs, to describe new inventions, to express new ideas. Many new words entered the language when the colonists, who carried English to the New World, met Dutch, Spanish, French, and Native American peoples and languages. Wherever English-speaking people live, work, play, or even fight with people who speak other languages, new words enter English. English is always growing, always changing."
Also this fascinating fact:
Of the 600,000 words that now make up the English language, the average English-speaking adult knows about 15,000. But 99 percent of our everyday speech is made up of 1600 words. All of these words have stories - how down became down and up, up. Why an umpire is called that. Some words have changed their meaning completely over the centuries, some have not changed at all."
Words are important. "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speak."
James had a timely warning, when it comes to how we use our words. I leave you with his thoughts.
5 "So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so." James 3:5-10 ESV
~Abby
2 comments:
Very true! Thanks for the input. Also––I think it's amazing that when you look into the Greek of the verse 'out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks', the Greek word for 'overflow' is 'ekblepo', which means thrown out––basically implying that it's what we say on the spur of the moment, when we're angry or upset or have a sudden burst of love or happiness that shows the state of our heart. Pretty scary!
Dear Lily & Daisy,
I was forming this post for over a week. I probably could have put more into it, but wanted it to be pretty basic, while yet informing others.
Your input was just great! Thanks for passing it along. That's very neat about what the Greek term for overflow is.
Words are powerful, I need to remind myself the most.
Abby
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