amen

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "amen"

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English amen, from Old English , from Ecclesiastical Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn, “certainly, verily”) (cognate with Arabic آمِينَ (ʔāmīna), Classical Syriac ܐܡܝܢ (ʾāmên)). In Old English, it was used only at the end of the Gospels. Elsewhere, it was translated as sōþlīċe! (“truly”, “indeed!”), swā hit is (“so it is”), and sīe! (“ be it!”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /eɪˈmɛn/, /ɑːˈmɛn/, /ˈeɪ.mɛn/
    • Both pronunciations are used, sometimes even by the same speaker depending on the context.
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛn

Adverb

amen (not comparable)

  1. At the end of religious prayers: so be it.
  2. In many Abrahamic religious texts and creeds: certainly, verily.
    • 1582, English College of Rheims, transl., The New Testament of Jesus Christ‎, John 3:5, page 222:
      Iesvs anſvvered, Amen, Amen I ſay to thee, Vnles a man be borne againe of vvater and the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Interjection

amen

  1. (Discuss(+) this sense) An expression of strong agreement, often in the phrase "Amen to that!"
    • 1999 May, Matt Groening, “Hell Is Other Robots”, in Futurama, season 1, episode 9:
      Fry: Bender's stupid religion is driving me nuts! / Leela: Amen!

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

amen (plural amens)

  1. An instance of saying ‘amen’.
    • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, , published 1848, →OCLC:
      The amens of the dusty clerk appear, like Macbeth’s, to stick in his throat a little; but Captain Cuttle helps him out, […]
    • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 12:
      [H]is `Amens' were ejected at the pulpit with the severity of a reprimand.
    • 2006, Evault Boswell, The Iron Mountain Baby:
      A chorus of amens rang out across the audience.

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

amen (third-person singular simple present amens, present participle amening, simple past and past participle amened)

  1. (intransitive) To say amen.
    • 1942, Emily Carr, “Sunday”, in The Book of Small:
      The moment Dr. Reid amened, we rushed straight out of the church off home.
    • 2015, T. M. Young, Much Given, Much Required, page xxx:
      Most of the church amened and applauded.
    • 2015, Jewelle Francis, Manifest Destiny:
      She must be thinking Reverend Hopkins is talking directly to her, because she starts amening and shouting real loud when he gets to the part in Proverbs […]
  2. (transitive) To say amen to; to ratify solemnly.
    • 1984 August 11, Gail Ann Williams, “Convention Views: On The Street, In The Hall”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 5, page 3:
      spending the first half of the rally amening any mention of God or Reagan

Translations

Anagrams

Catalan

Pronunciation

Verb

amen

  1. third-person plural present indicative of amar

Cebuano

Etymology

Derived from Spanish amén, from Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Hebrew אמן (amén, “certainly, truly”).

The gesture evolved from the custom of kissing the ecclesiastical ring of Catholic clergymen.

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: a‧men

Adverb

amen

  1. at the end of religious prayers: so be it

Interjection

amen

  1. an expression of strong agreement

Verb

amen

  1. to touch one's forehead to the back of an older person's hand as a gesture of respect
  2. to hold out one's hand to someone, often a younger person, in order for them to touch it to their foreheads

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:amen.

Chuukese

Etymology

Borrowed from English amen.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /aˈmɛn/, /aˈbɛn/

Interjection

amen

  1. amen

Dutch

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Dutch amen, from Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אמן (amén, “certainly, truly”).

Pronunciation

Interjection

amen

  1. amen; at the end of Judeo-Christian prayers: so be it
  2. amen; an expression of strong agreement

Noun

amen n (plural amens, diminutive amentje n)

  1. An instance of saying ‘amen’.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Negerhollands: amen
  • →? Sranan Tongo: amen

Esperanto

Etymology

Derived from Ecclesiastical Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”).

Pronunciation

Interjection

amen

  1. amen

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew certainly, truly (ʾāmēn).

Pronunciation

Adverb

amen

  1. amen

Noun

amen m (plural amens)

  1. amen

Further reading

Anagrams

Galician

Verb

amen

  1. inflection of amar:
    1. third-person plural present subjunctive
    2. third-person plural imperative

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Hebrew אמן.

Pronunciation

Interjection

amen

  1. amen

Derived terms

Gothic

Romanization

amēn

  1. Romanization of 𐌰𐌼𐌴𐌽

Icelandic

Adverb

amen

  1. at the end of prayers: so be it
    Í guðanna bænum, amen.
    For God's sake, amen.
  2. at the end of a creeds or in Biblical translations: truly, verily

Interjection

amen

  1. expressing strong agreement

Anagrams

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”) (cognate with Arabic آمِين (ʔāmīn), Classical Syriac ܐܡܝܢ (ʾāmên)).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈa.men/
  • Rhymes: -amen
  • Hyphenation: à‧men

Adverb

amen

  1. amen; so be it
  2. (colloquial) that's it; end of the story
    L'esame è andato male, pace e amen, fattene una ragione.
    The exam went bad, that's it, come to terms with it.

Interjection

amen

  1. amen!

Usage notes

  • Sense 2, similar to pace and va beh, is colloquial, and typically seen in the phrase pace e amen, as in the example.

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Koine Greek ᾱ̓μήν (āmḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”); cognate with Arabic آمِين (ʔāmīn), Aramaic אַמִין (ʾamīn), Classical Syriac ܐܰܡܺܝܢ (ʾamīn).

Pronunciation

Adverb

āmēn (not comparable) (biblical, Christianity, Late Latin, Medieval Latin, Ecclesiastical Latin)

  1. amen; so be it, let it be
  2. amen; truly, verily

Interjection

āmēn

  1. amen!

References

  • "amen", in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • amen in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • amen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 113.
  • amen in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 375

Middle Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin āmēn.

Interjection

āmen

  1. amen, so be it

Descendants

Further reading

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Old English , from Latin āmēn.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /aːˈmɛːn/, /aːˈmɛn/

Interjection

amen

  1. amen

Descendants

References

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Ultimately from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”).

Interjection

amen

  1. amen

Noun

amen n (definite singular amenet, indefinite plural amen or amener, definite plural amena or amenene)

  1. an amen

References

Anagrams

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Ultimately from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”).

Interjection

amen

  1. amen

Noun

amen n (definite singular amenet, indefinite plural amen, definite plural amena)

  1. an amen

References

Anagrams

Old Swedish

Etymology

Ultimately from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”).

Interjection

amen

  1. amen

Descendants

Polabian

Etymology

Borrowed from German amen, from Latin āmēn, from Koine Greek ᾱ̓μήν (āmḗn, “so be it”), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn).

Interjection

amen

  1. (religion) amen! (at the end of religious prayers)

References

  • The template Template:R:pox:SejDp does not use the parameter(s): 
    3=1
    Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.    Lehr-Spławiński, T., Polański, K. (1962) “amen”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka Drzewian połabskich [Etymological Dictionary of the Polabian Drevani Language] (in Polish), numbers 1 (A – ďüzd), Wrocław, Warszawa etc.: Ossolineum, page 18
  • Polański, Kazimierz, James Allen Sehnert (1967) “amen”, in Polabian-English Dictionary, The Hague, Paris: Mouton & Co, page 34
  • Olesch, Reinhold (1962) “Amen”, in Thesaurus Linguae Dravaenopolabicae [Thesaurus of the Drevani language] (in German), volumes 1: A – O, Cologne, Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, →ISBN, page 4

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ecclesiastical Latin āmēn, from Koine Greek ᾱ̓μήν (āmḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn). First attested in 1513.

Pronunciation

Interjection

amen

  1. (religion) amen! (at the end of religious prayers)
  2. (sometimes humorous) amen! (used to end a statement)

Derived terms

adverb
particle

References

  1. ^ Witold Doroszewski, editor (1958–1969), “amen”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), Warszawa: PWN
  2. ^ Mirosław Bańko, Lidia Wiśniakowska (2021) “amen”, in Wielki słownik wyrazów obcych, →ISBN
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “amen”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]

Further reading

  • amen in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • amen in Polish dictionaries at PWN
  • Wiesław Morawski (25.08.2022) “AMEN”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century]
  • Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “amen”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎
  • Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “amen”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861‎
  • J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “amen”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎ (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 31

Portuguese

Interjection

amen

  1. Obsolete spelling of amém

Romani

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀅𑀫𑁆𑀳𑁂 (amhe), from Sanskrit अस्मान् (asmān), from Proto-Indo-European *n̥smé.

Pronoun

amen

  1. we, us

Descendants

  • Kalo Finnish Romani: ame

See also

Romani personal pronouns
Number Person Gender Nominative Accusative Dative Locative Ablative Instrumental Possessive
Singular First — me man manqe manθe manθar mança miro, -i, -e
Second — tu tut tuqe tuθe tuθar tuça tiro, -i, -e
Reflexive third — — pes pesqe pesθe pesθar peça pesqero, -i, -e
Third Masculine ov les lesqe lesθe lesθar leça lesqero, -i, -e
Feminine oj la laqe laθe laθar laça laqero, -i, -e
Plural First — amen amenqe amenθe amenθar amença amaro, -i, -e
Second — tumen tumenqe tumenθe tumenθar tumença tumaro, -i, -e
Reflexive third — — pen penqe penθe penθar pença penqero, -i, -e
Third — on len lenqe lenθe lenθar lença lenqero, -i, -e
Kalderash Romani personal pronouns
Number Person Gender Nominative Accusative (long and short forms) Dative Locative Ablative Instrumental Possessive
Singular First — me man, ma mánge mánde mándar mánsa múrro m, múrri f, múrre pl
Second — tu tut, tu túke túte tútar túsa tíro m, tíri f, tíre pl
Reflexive third — — pês, pe pêske pêste pêstar pêsa pêsko m, pêski f, pêske pl
Third Masculine wo lês, le lêske lêste lêstar lêsa lêsko m, lêski f, lêske pl
Feminine woi la, la láke láte látar lása láko m, láki f, láke pl
Plural First — ame amên, ame amênge amênde amêndar amênsa amáro m, amári f, amáre pl
Second — tume tumên, tume tumênge tumênde tumêndar tumênsa tumáro m, tumári f, tumáre pl
Reflexive third — — pên, pe pênge pênde pêndar pênsa pêngo m, pêngi f, pênge pl
Third — won lên, le lênge lênde lêndar lênsa lêngo m, lêngi f, lênge pl

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Boretzky, Norbert, Igla, Birgit (1994) “amén”, in Wörterbuch Romani-Deutsch-Englisch für den südosteuropäischen Raum : mit einer Grammatik der Dialektvarianten [Romani-German-English dictionary for the Southern European region] (in German), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 6a
  2. ^ Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “asmad”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 43
  3. ^ Marcel Courthiade (2009) “amen”, in Melinda Rézműves, editor, Morri angluni rromane ćhibǎqi evroputni lavustik = Első rromani nyelvű európai szótáram : cigány, magyar, angol, francia, spanyol, német, ukrán, román, horvát, szlovák, görög [My First European-Romani Dictionary: Romani, Hungarian, English, French, Spanish, German, Ukrainian, Romanian, Croatian, Slovak, Greek] (overall work in Hungarian and English), Budapest: Fővárosi Onkormányzat Cigány Ház--Romano Kher, →ISBN, page 60a

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈamen/
  • Rhymes: -amen
  • Syllabification: a‧men

Verb

amen

  1. inflection of amar:
    1. third-person plural present subjunctive
    2. third-person plural imperative

Swedish

Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv

Interjection

amen

  1. amen (at the end of religious prayers)

References

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish amén, from Ecclesiastical Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”).

Pronunciation

Interjection

amén or amen (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜋᜒᜈ᜔)

  1. amen (at the end of religious prayers: so be it)
    Synonym: siya nawa

Noun

amén or amen (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜋᜒᜈ᜔)

  1. hand-kissing of one's elders (as a sign of respect)
    Synonyms: mano, pagmano, pagmamano
  2. saying of yes to everything that another says

Derived terms

Further reading

  • “amen”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
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