MAGIC WORDS
Meanings:
• Certainly, truly, always
-- Florence Hayllar, Notes and Queries (1864)
• Let it be
-- Brian Murdoch, German Literature of the Early Middle Ages (2004)
• Make firm, establish permanently
-- Jane Gordon, A Companion to African-American Studies (2006)
• May it be so
-- Kerry Olitzky, The Complete How To Handbook for Jewish Living (2004)
• Peace
-- Purushottam Nagesh Oak, Some Missing Chapters of World History (197 )
• Reliable
-- Martha Nandorfy, The Poetics of Apocalypse (200 )
• Secret, hidden
-- Thomas Milton Stewart, Symbolism of the Gods of the Egyptians and the Light
They Throw on Freemasonry (1927)
Origins: Amen is an affirmation of divine action. It originated as a Hebrew
word meaning "truth"160 and is often translated to mean "let it be so." There
is speculation that amen originally invoked the Egyptian god Amun, "the Hidden
One," who represented the sun in the Mother's belly before dawn.
In Literature:
• "Whenever you're ready, you just say it, the magic word. Amen. And it's
showtime." -- Chuck Palahniuk, Survivor (1999)
• "The Witch said Amen, and made the Maid say Amen, and the Spirits said
Amen, Amen." -- Montague Summers, Witchcraft and Black Magic (1946)
• "It was a rule in the Eisenhower household that no one was permitted to
leave the dinner table until after Ida said, 'Amen.' Dwight usually sat on a
stool, champing at the bit to be freed of his symbol of family togetherness.
. . . When his mother finally pronounced the magic word, 'he was off and
gone like a shot.'" -- Carlo D'Este, Eisenhower (2002)
America
Mystique: "From the point of view of magical symbolism, the letter A is a
very powerful figure. It incorporates the idea of beginning, of the number
1, of unfinished work, of the eye of God, and of the Trinity. Part of this significance
is transferred to the word america, which begins and ends with the
160 John Ayto, Dictionary of Word Origins (1990)