A study of ‘strength’ in Hebrews 11, tracing the Greek and Old English roots behind the idea of weakness becoming strength, with examples from French, Spanish, German, and other European translations.

Old English ‘wilcuma’ meant ‘a wished-for guest’. The Greek ‘δέχομαι’ in Hebrews 11:31 adds another layer — to receive with the right hand. ‘Welcome’ joins will, friendship and faith into one open gesture. 

A reflection on Hebrews 11:27 through the history of the word ‘anger’. From Norse sorrow to Greek fire, this short piece links language, Scripture, and the village beacon that marks the start of Christmas.

From Latin sacer ‘holy’ and facere ‘to make’, ‘sacrifice’ first meant ‘to make something holy’. The Greek ‘προσφέρω’ adds the sense of offering or bringing near to God.

The word ‘country’ once meant the open land beyond the walls. From Latin ‘contrata’ and Greek ‘χώρα’, it described a region or homeland rather than a nation. Hebrews 11:16 speaks of ‘a better country’ — the true homeland God prepares.

From Greek ‘ἐπαγγελία’ and Latin ‘promissio’, ‘promise’ means a word sent forward — something spoken in faith before fulfilment.

From Latin ‘extraneus’, meaning ‘from outside’, ‘stranger’ once meant traveller or guest. In Hebrews 11:9, Abraham lives ‘beside’ rather than ‘within’—a pilgrim waiting for home.

The phrase ‘in holy fear’ comes from a single Greek word meaning reverent awe. In English, holy once meant ‘whole,’ and fear meant ‘danger.’ Together they trace how peril turned into reverence—wholeness preserved through awe before what is sacred.

From Greek ‘αἰών’ to Latin ‘universum’, the story of how one word came to mean all things created and held together by God’s word.

More than belief alone, ‘faith’ in the Bible is trust in God’s faithfulness — confidence in what he has said, even when it is not yet seen.

In a Flemish supermarket, the word groenten caught my eye. It means ‘vegetables’, but it shares its history with English green.

In Belgium, a supermarket sign reads ‘Huisdieren’ (‘house animals’). Dutch ‘dieren’ shares its root with English ‘deer’ and German ‘Tier’. Once the same word, their meanings diverged over time.

Discover the etymology of ‘butcher’: Flemish ‘beenhouwerij’ means ‘bone-hacker’s shop’, Danish ‘slagter’ comes from ‘to slaughter’, and English ‘butcher’ from French ‘goat-slayer’. Explore how German, Italian, Portuguese, Celtic, and Basque languages name this everyday trade.

From cranes to bogs, the name ‘cranberry’ traces a northern path through Low German Kraanbere and Dutch Kraanbes, linking birds, berries, and marshland speech.

From Greek ‘pepon’ meaning ‘cooked by the sun’, ‘pumpkin’ travelled through Latin and French before taking root in English. Its story links ancient languages with New World harvests.

Broth is one of the oldest English cooking words, rooted in a Proto-Germanic word for boiling liquid. From medieval hearths to modern bouillon cubes, its story spans kitchens, languages, and centuries

By November the weather turns and jacket potatoes make sense again — simple, filling, and familiar. The word ‘potato’ has travelled as far as the crop itself, from Taíno ‘batata’ and Quechua ‘papa’ to Spanish ‘patata’ and English. Across Europe, languages called it an ‘earth apple’ or linked it to a truffle.

The English ‘parsnip’ comes from Latin ‘pastinaca’, a word for both parsnip and carrot, and for the fork used to dig them up. Most European languages kept this Latin root, though Spanish ‘chirivía’ took a different path through Arabic. A vegetable named for the tool that unearthed it.

The word ‘poppy’ traces back to Latin ‘papaver’, borrowed into Old English as ‘popiġ’. Across Europe it left a trail of relatives—French ‘pavot’, Italian ‘papavero’, Welsh ‘pabi’, German ‘Mohn’. Once a symbol of sleep and death, it later became a flower of remembrance.

A word as soft as the fruit it names. Pear came into English through Old English pere and Latin pirum, a name that may go back to an ancient root meaning ‘to crush’. The same story ripened across Europe in poire, pera, and Birne.