{"id":7111,"date":"2025-07-28T05:23:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T05:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/?p=7111"},"modified":"2025-07-28T05:29:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T05:29:45","slug":"word-of-the-day-venerable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/2025\/07\/28\/word-of-the-day-venerable\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day: Venerable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s word of the day, courtesy of Words Coach (https:\/\/www.wordscoach.com\/dictionary<\/a>), is venerable<\/em>. Pronounced \/ \u02c8v\u025bn \u0259r \u0259 b\u0259l \/, this adjective means \u201ccommanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity; worthy of veneration or reverence, as because of high office or noble character,\u201d \u201ca title for someone proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church to have attained the first degree of sanctity or of an Anglican archdeacon,\u201d \u201c(of places, buildings, etc.) hallowed by religious, historic, or other lofty associations,\u201d \u201cimpressive or interesting because of age, antique appearance, etc.,\u201d or \u201cextremely old or obsolete; ancient\u201d (https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/venerable<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word entered the language \u201cc. 1400 (in reference to Bede, the Church fathers), \u2018worthy of respect and esteem,\u2019 also of Christ, \u2018worthy of religious worship,\u2019 from Old French venerable<\/em> and directly from Latin venerabilis<\/em> \u2018worthy of reverence or respect,\u2019 from venerari<\/em> \u2018to worship, revere,\u2019 from venus<\/em> (genitive veneris<\/em>) \u2018beauty, love, desire\u2019 (from PIE root *wen-<\/strong><\/a> (1) \u2018to desire, strive for\u2019). As a title, used in reference to ecclesiastics (in the Anglican church, specifically of archdeacons) or those who had obtained the first degree of canonization. In general use, \u2018hallowed by a combination of religious, historic, or other lofty associations,\u2019 from late 15c\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=venerable<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name most associated with the title venerable has got to be the Venerable Bede. Bede (c. 672-735) is most famous for his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum<\/em> (Ecclesiastical History of the English People<\/em>), and for this work is sometimes called the Father of English History. And what little we know about Bede comes from his own chapter in the Ecclesiastical History<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the age of seven, Bede was sent as a puer oblatus to the monastery of Monkwearmouth by his family to be educated by Benedict Biscop and later by Ceolfrith. Bede does not say whether it was already intended at that point that he would be a monk. It was fairly common in Ireland at this time for young boys, particularly those of noble birth, to be fostered out as an oblate; the practice was also likely to have been common among the Germanic peoples in England. Monkwearmouth’s sister monastery at Jarrow was founded by Ceolfrith in 682, and Bede probably transferred to Jarrow with Ceolfrith that year\u201d (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bede<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn about 692, in Bede’s nineteenth year, Bede was ordained a deacon by his diocesan bishop, John, who was Bishop of Hexham. The canonical age for the ordination of a deacon was 25; Bede’s early ordination may mean that his abilities were considered exceptional, but it is also possible that the minimum age requirement was often disregarded. There might have been minor orders ranking below a deacon; but there is no record of whether Bede held any of these offices\u201d (ibid.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bede was a prolific writer. His works included Biblical commentaries, exegetical treatises, and hagiographies. Those \u201cincluded lives of the abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow, as well as verse and prose lives of St Cuthbert, an adaptation of Paulinus of Nola’s Life of St Felix<\/em>, and a translation of the Greek Passion of St Anastasius<\/em>. He also created a listing of saints, the Martyrology.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Historia<\/em> is what Bede is famous for. One of the most interesting stories in it is the story of the sparrow. It is a comment by a councilor of King Edwin of Northumbria, while he and his councilors are considering converting from the pagan gods of their past to the new Christian god. After one of the pagan priests speaks, the councilor, according to Bede, says this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how the present life of man on earth, King, appears to me in comparison with that which is unknown to us. You are sitting feasting with your ealdormen and thegns in winter time; the fire is burning on the hearth in the middle of the hall and all inside is warm, while outside the wintry storms of rain and snow are raging; and a sparrow flies swiftly through the hall. It enters in at one door and quickly flies out through the other. For the few moments it is inside, the storm and wintry tempest cannot touch it, but after the briefest moment of calm, it flits from your sight, out of the wintry storm and into it again. So this life of man appears but for a moment; what follows or indeed what went before, we know not at all. If this new doctrine brings us more certain information, it seems right that we should accept it. (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ecclesiastical_History_of_the_English_People<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also tells the story of the first known bit of Anglo-Saxon poetry, \u201cC\u00e6dmon\u2019s Hymn\u201d: \u201cAccording to Bede, C\u00e6dmon was an illiterate cow-herder employed at the monastery of Whitby who miraculously recited a Christian song of praise in Old English verse. In the story, C\u00e6dmon is attending a feast; when the revellers pass a harp around for all to sing a song, he leaves the hall, because he cannot contribute a song and feels ashamed. He falls asleep, and in a dream a man appears to him, and asks him to sing a song. C\u00e6dmon responds that he cannot sing, yet the man tells him to “Sing to me the beginning of all things”. C\u00e6dmon is then able to sing verses and words that he had not heard of before. On waking, C\u00e6dmon reported his experience first to a steward then to Hild, the abbess of Whitby. She invites scholars to evaluate C\u00e6dmon’s gift, and he is tasked with turning more divine doctrine into song. Hild is so impressed with C\u00e6dmon’s poetic gift that she encourages him to become a monk. He learns the history of the Christian church and creates more poems, such as the story of Genesis and many other biblical stories. This impresses his teachers. Bede says that C\u00e6dmon, in composing verse, wanted to turn man from the love of sin to a love of good deeds. C\u00e6dmon is said to have died peacefully in his sleep after asking for the Eucharist and making sure he was at peace with his fellow men\u201d (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/C%C3%A6dmon%27s_Hymn<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bede did not quote the poem in Old English, perhaps because he considered himself a scholar and not a scop. But he paraphrases the poem in Latin, and then scribes who copied his Historia sometimes translated his paraphrase back to the Old English; hence there are variations. But here\u2019s one of the Old English versions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nu sculon herian\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 heofonrices Weard,
Metodes mihte\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and his modge\u00feanc,
weorc Wuldorf\u00e6der,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 swa he wundra gehw\u00e6s
ece Dryhten,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 or onstealde.
He \u00e6rest scop\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 eor\u00fean bearnum
heofon to hrofe\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 halig Scieppend.
\u00fea middangeard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 mancynnes Weard
ece Dryhten,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00e6fter teode
firum foldan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Frea \u00e6lmihtig. (https:\/\/stella.glasgow.ac.uk\/readings\/?oe-5<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here is a translation into Contemporary English:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now [we] must praise [the] Guardian of [the] heavenly kingdom, [the power] of God and his conception,[the] work of [the] Father of Glory, in that He, eternal Lord, established [the] beginning of every marvellous thing.
He, holy Creator, first created
heaven as a roof for children of men.
Then [the] Guardian of mankind,
eternal Lord, almighty Master, afterwards adorned [the] earth for living beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bede is not a saint. It takes the recognition by the Church of two miracles at least. But Bede was a scholar and a historian, and he was dedicated to his God and his church. He deserved the title the Venerable Bede. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s image is of \u201cThe Venerable Bede writing the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, from a 12th-century codex at Engelberg Abbey, Switzerland\u201d (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bede<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s word of the day, courtesy of Words Coach (https:\/\/www.wordscoach.com\/dictionary), is venerable. Pronounced \/ \u02c8v\u025bn \u0259r \u0259 b\u0259l \/, this adjective means \u201ccommanding respect because of great age or impressive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[864,238,395,284,863],"class_list":["post-7111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-of-the-day","tag-bede","tag-dictionary","tag-etymology","tag-linguistics","tag-venerable","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7113,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7111\/revisions\/7113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}