Hi this is to Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 140. The word origin today is grace.
Okay and we're going to cover the word grace in connection to giving thanks for
forgiveness or why we say the word grace before a meal. All right. Let's continue. The word grace
has many meanings. Yeah. Normally like when I hear grace, you think of like a
graceful mannerism. You know, maybe you know, if you're somebody from a higher
class or royalty you know, you're very graceful. Maybe some actresses somebody
like that. They have their mannerisms very graceful. It's the first thing most
people probably think of. In this video we will cover why the word grace is
directly connected to giving thanks or forgiveness and its connection to
religion and some other phrases and terms in English and other languages. All
right. Let's continue. In regard to religion grace can mean the condition or
the state of when people are loved or forgiven by God. So this is directly a
religious meaning of the word grace. It also refer to the love and kindness God
bestows or gives on people. Let's continue. The word grace worked its way
into English through the French word, I think it's a grace which is also spelled
just like grace , but with a little accent mark. In the twelfth century having
meanings related to divine grace. You know, coming from God. Mercy
which is important. We'll cover that later you know, for the French. Mercy
is usually when you have... when you forgive people . You don't punish them too
seriously. You have mercy on them. Favor you're in one's favor that somebody likes
you thanks etc. The French term derived directly from the Latin term "gratia. "
Okay. Meaning favor. pleasing, gratitude, etc.
This is why we see the word for thank you in many Romance languages
having the same root and origin. For example , the word in Spanish for
thanks is gracias. All right. Again, gracias. Yes. Directly
connected to gratia is directly connected to grace. So it is thanks in that
sense. In Italian it's grazie . All right. same route exactly. In French, it differs a little
bit. We go in a different direction. In French we say merci. So
remember I said before that the word mercy is important. I always wondered
this that when I I knew that the word in French for thank you is mercy, but then I
always thought ... you know , you could see there was a connection probably to the
word mercy in English, but mercy, forgiveness. Thank you is not exactly the
same. You know, you always kind of wondered. But once you've studied this,
You realize that in the origin of the word grace both forgiveness and
thanks is in its root. All right. Let's continue. This is also what we see some
Christians say that one should say grace before a meal. Yes. So even if you're not
Christian, you've probably seen this in movies where some Christians, not all
Christians do this , but some Christians will say we should say thank you grace
meaning you say a little prayer before you're eating, thanking God that you're
lucky enough to have this meal or have this food. You know , thanks for any
blessings that he gave you basically. Let's continue. All right. Yeah. We also
have the phrases in one's good graces. Meaning in one's good favor or, or in the
grace of God or by the grace of God. You know again, the, the gratitude or
the forgiveness of God. Okay. Good . We have a Bible quote here too. The is
Ephesians 2: 8-9. " For by the grace are you saved." That's actually the quote.
Again in regard to forgiveness. We also have the title of a very famous classic
song "Amazing Grace. " I actually covered the lyrics of this about a year or so
ago I haven't covered word lyrics for a while, but this was one I did cover and I
remember the guy I always wondered why this song was called "Amazing Grace. "
it had a very spiritual feeling to it, and when I looked up the history on it,
the guy himself he used to be a slave trader. He used to work on the boats of
trading slaves. And I think that one night there was a terrible
storm and he had a life-changing experience. He thought he was going to die
for sure. He was fighting the waves the whole night and he realized and he
believed that God saved him that night. It totally changed his life around and
that's why you know if you hear that song you know, Amazing Grace. Amazing
grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Remember a wretch he
thought himself was a very terrible person and that God still could see and
still forgive him eventually for that. So that's where we get that song Amazing
Grace. So grace that's what the grace means in the title of that song. Okay.
Let's just give a couple of examples here. Example number one. Don't forget to
say grace before a meal. We might hear that. Or by the grace of God he was saved.
All right. So that's the way we might hear it used. Anyway, I hope you got it.
I hope it was clear, I hope it was very informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.