Blessing

== Etymology and Germanic paganism ==
The modern English language term ''bless'' likely derives from the 1225 term {{Lang|enm|blessen}}, which developed from the [[Old English]] {{Lang|ang|blǣdsian}} (preserved in the [[Northumbria]]n dialect around 950 AD).<ref name=BARNHART73>Barnhart (1995:73).</ref> The term also appears in other forms, such as {{Lang|ang|blēdsian}} (before 830), {{Lang|ang|blētsian}} from around 725 and ''{{lang|ang|blesian}}'' from around 1000, all meaning to make sacred or holy by a sacrificial custom in the [[Anglo-Saxon paganism|Anglo-Saxon pagan]] period, originating in [[Germanic paganism]]; to mark with blood.<ref name=BARNHART73/> Due to this, the term is related to the term {{Lang|ang|blōd}}, meaning '[[blood]]'.<ref name=BARNHART73/> References to this indigenous practice, [[Blót]], exist in related [[Iceland]]ic sources.

The modern meaning of the term may have been influenced in translations of the Bible into Old English during the process of [[Christianization]] to translate the [[Latin]] term {{Lang|la|benedīcere}} meaning 'to speak well of', resulting in meanings such as 'to praise' or 'extol' or 'to speak of' or 'to wish well'.<ref name=BARNHART73/>