Don’t you think that the words bless and blessings are the kinds of words that we really take for granted?  They are the kind of words that I think to myself, “But what does that really mean?”  I mean, how can you go out and do it if you don’t really know what “it” is?  (I wonder this same thing about words like worship and pray too…)

So, I decided to do a little hunting and track down a bit on the word and it’s origin.

Mirriam-Webster Online said:

Main Entry: bless
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): blessed  /’blest /; also blest  /’blest/; bless·ing
1 : to hallow or consecrate by religious rite or word
2 : to hallow with the sign of the cross
3 : to invoke divine care for <bless your heart> — used in the phrase bless you to wish good health especially to one who has just sneezed
4 a : PRAISE, GLORIFY <bless his holy name> b : to speak well of : APPROVE
5 : to confer prosperity or happiness upon
6 archaic : PROTECT, PRESERVE
7 : ENDOW, FAVOR <blessed with athletic ability>

Ok.  No offense to Mirriam or Webster, but that’s not really clearing things up for me.  Although, number five seems useful (and spawns a discussion on what Happiness really is, which we’ll probably save for later).

Being as it’s primarily a religious term I’ve decided to also consult a Lexicon for Biblical definitions:

Old Testament (Hebrew)
0833  ’ashar  {aw-shar’}  blessed, lead, go, guide, happy, leaders, relieve
0835  ’esher  {eh’-sher}  blessed, happy
01288  barak  {baw-rak’}  bless, salute, curse, blaspheme, blessing, praised, kneel down, congratulate, kneel, make to kneel, misc
01289  b@rak (Aramaic)  {ber-ak’}  bless, kneel
01293  B@rakah  {ber-aw-kaw’}  blessing, blessed, present, liberal, pools
New Testament (Greek)
1757  eneulogeo  {en-yoo-log-eh’-o}  bless
2127  eulogeo  {yoo-log-eh’-o}  bless, praise
2128  eulogetos  {yoo-log-ay-tos’}  blessed (said of God)
2129  eulogia  {yoo-log-ee’-ah}  blessing, bounty, bountifully, fair speech
3106  makarizo  {mak-ar-id’-zo}  call blessed, count happy
3107  makarios  {mak-ar’-ee-os}  blessed, happy, happier
3108  makarismos  {mak-ar-is-mos’}  blessedness

See how lazy I am?  This chart looked nice and easy, but for more details you can go to Blue Letter Bible yourself and look up the individual numbers.  I’m not a Biblical scholar or anything but it sure does look like the idea of blessing is closely tied to either praising someone or making them happy.  (Hmmm…  there are a lot of theological issues to delve into in that aren’t there!)

One more reference:

bless
O.E. bletsian, bledsian, Northumbrian bloedsian “to consecrate, make holy,” from P.Gmc. *blothisojan “mark with blood,” from *blotham “blood” (see blood). Originally a blood sprinkling on pagan altars. This word was chosen in O.E. bibles to translate L. benedicere and Gk. eulogein, both of which have a ground sense of “to speak well of, to praise,” but were used in Scripture to translate Heb. brk “to bend (the knee), worship, praise, invoke blessings.” Meaning shifted in late O.E. toward “to confer happiness, well-being,” by resemblance to unrelated bliss. No cognates in other languages. Blessing is O.E. bledsung.

Taken from: Online Etymology Dictionary

Interesting….

In summary, Megan’s definition (for practical purposes) is: To Bless – to in some way offer happiness to another, to praise them, or to speak the Divine over them.

Happy Blessing!

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