Word Play with George Grant: Oh come all ye grammarians

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is December 21st. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Up next, a Christmas edition of Word Play with WORLD commentator George Grant

GEORGE GRANT: The word “Oh” is what grammarians call an interjection. It is used to express a wide range of emotions including surprise and joy, fear and pain, invocation and admiration. It entered the English lexicon from Old Norman French—which had inherited it from Latin, Greek, and Indo-European proclitic roots. 

It can serve as an expression of alarm or dismay: “Oh, no!” “Oh, my!” or “Uh, oh!” It can be used to accentuate a declaration—sort of like a verbal exclamation mark: “Oh, man!” “Oh, boy!” or “Oh, yes!” It can also emphasize an affirmation: “Oh, right!” “Oh, sure!” or “Oh, OK!” It can even strengthen a query or express dubious sarcasm: “Oh, yeah?” “Oh, really?” or just “Ohhh?” 

The word appears more than a thousand times in the Bible, nearly four hundred times in the Psalms. Usually, it is a poetic or honorific exclamation: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” “O Absalom, Absalom, my son, Absalom!” “I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High!” “Why are you cast down, O my soul? Hope in God!” “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me!” “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” “O you of little faith!” and “O you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers; for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”

The medieval Advent Antiphons are sometimes also known as the O Antiphons because they all begin with the word “O.” An antiphon is a call-and-response chant traditionally sung just before a psalm or a Scripture canticle. The O Antiphons were reserved for vespers services during the last week before Christmas and they introduced the singing of Mary’s song of praise, The Magnificat. 

They exult in the mystery and the glory of the incarnation of Christ declaring, “O Wisdom!” “O Adonai!” “O Root of Jesse!” “O Key of David!” “O Dayspring!” “O King of the Nations” and “O Emmanuel!” The familiar and haunting carol, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, was composed by John Mason Neale, a gifted translator and hymn writer. He based the 1851 text on these O Antiphons:

O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Oh, Lord! Oh, my! Oh, yes! Blessed Christmas, everyone!

I’m George Grant.

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