bless [OE] Old English blēdsian, blētsian are perhaps based on blōd ‘blood’, the likely original semantic core being ‘mark or consecrate with blood’. The history is difficult to trace because there is no equivalent in other Germanic languages. The meaning was influenced by the word’s use to translate Latin benedīcere ‘to praise’, ‘to worship’, and Greek eulogein meaning essentially ‘speak well of’; these in turn translated Hebrew brk ‘to bend’, in this case ‘bend the knee (in praise)’. There is therefore a series of rich associations, pagan, Jewish, and Christian mixed together in the English words bless and blessing [OE]; *bliss [OE] and bless have also influenced each other’s meaning.