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In this Adventure in Etymology we uncover the gratefully pleasing roots of the word grace.
As a noun grace [ɡɹeɪs] can mean:
- Charming, pleasing qualities.
- A short prayer of thanks before or after a meal.
- Elegant movement; elegance of movement; balance or poise.
- Favor, sanction or beneficence.
As a verb to grace can mean:
- To adorn; to decorate; to embellish and dignify.
- To dignify or raise by an act of favour; to honour.
- To supply with heavenly grace.
It comes from Middle English grace [ˈɡraː(t)sə] (the grace of God, luck, destiny, niceness, goodwill), from Old French grace (grace, favour, elegance), from Latin grātia (grace, thankfulness, thanks, influnce), from grātus (pleasing, dear, grateful), from Proto-Italic *gʷrātos (grateful, thankful) from PIE *gʷr̥H-tó-s (praised), from *gʷerH- (to praise, elevate) [source].
Words from the same roots include grazie (thank you) in Italian, grish (to invite, call, welcome) in Albanian, barn (opinion, view, judgement) in Welsh, bràth (judgement, destruction) in Scottish Gaelic, and agreement, bard, congratulate, grateful, gratitude and gratuity in English [source].
Incidentally, there were several other words for grace in Middle English, which included:
- held(e) [ˈheːld(ə)] = favour, grace, good will, duty, which is related to the Dutch word houden (to keep, care for, hold, love, like), and hold in Modern English [source].
- este [ˈɛːst(ə)] = grace, favour, pleasure, fun, delicacy, which is related to the Icelandic word ást (love) [source].
- ore [ˈɔ̝ːr(ə)] (honour, respect, grace, favour, respite), which is related to the German word Ehre (honour, credit) [source].
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I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog.