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From: daemon@ucbvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Amen
Message-ID: <203@ucbvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 16-Jul-83 23:10:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.203
Posted: Sat Jul 16 23:10:06 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 21-Jul-83 20:10:57 EDT
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Organization: U. C. Berkeley Computer Science
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From: arens@UCBKIM (Yigal Arens)

Sorry to present a dissenting view again, but "amen" is one of those many
biblical words whose original meaning is a bit obscure.  I don't have any of
my books with me at the moment (not even a bible), so I'm writing this from
memory.

The explanations given in this newsgroup by ulysses!smb and by umcp-cs!liz
are accurate as far as the traditional meaning given to the word.  In the
bible, however, the word only appears at the end of psalms (sometimes
followed by the even more obscure "sella") and its meaning is not obvious
from the context.  Some believe that it may have originally been meant to
inform people reciting the verses about some musical aspects of it.

Yigal Arens
UC Berkeley (soon USC)