I don’t believe that’s correct. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, benediction is (clearly) Latin, whereas blessing is old English. The hypothetically pre-Christian, proto-Germanic *blodison is about marking with blood, whereas benedicere/eulogein have far more secular and far less messy readings. Unfortunately ‘eulogy’ has non-marriage-friendly connotations.
Of course I didn’t know all that when I suggested benediction. My original theory was that blessing has more religious connotations than benediction.
No, I meant they’re the same concept from two different etymologies. A bracha is called “blessing” in English and “bénédiction” in French. Even the non-religious senses are still parallel in the two languages (“Mulan joined the army with her father’s blessing”). So I assumed that when English absorbed the latter it would keep its meaning. Do you have an example where they’d clash? (Other than Eliezer’s speech, obviously.)
I didn’t know the original sense of “blessing”, thanks for that.
Even the non-religious senses are still parallel in the two languages (“Mulan joined the army with her father’s blessing”)
That’s interesting, because “Mulan joined the army with her father’s benediction” triggers—so to speak—my English parser’s quirks mode, whereas “Mulan… blessing” sounds standard. Maybe dialect and/or language environment specific, I guess?
Is there a difference between a benediction and a blessing? Not an etymological one, at least.
I don’t believe that’s correct. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, benediction is (clearly) Latin, whereas blessing is old English. The hypothetically pre-Christian, proto-Germanic *blodison is about marking with blood, whereas benedicere/eulogein have far more secular and far less messy readings. Unfortunately ‘eulogy’ has non-marriage-friendly connotations.
Of course I didn’t know all that when I suggested benediction. My original theory was that blessing has more religious connotations than benediction.
No, I meant they’re the same concept from two different etymologies. A bracha is called “blessing” in English and “bénédiction” in French. Even the non-religious senses are still parallel in the two languages (“Mulan joined the army with her father’s blessing”). So I assumed that when English absorbed the latter it would keep its meaning. Do you have an example where they’d clash? (Other than Eliezer’s speech, obviously.)
I didn’t know the original sense of “blessing”, thanks for that.
That’s interesting, because “Mulan joined the army with her father’s benediction” triggers—so to speak—my English parser’s quirks mode, whereas “Mulan… blessing” sounds standard. Maybe dialect and/or language environment specific, I guess?
Okay, so “blessing” is an exact translation of French “bénédiction” while “benediction” fills a different linguistic niche. Thanks.