Reply #35: It's impossible to eliminate religious etymology...

[eallen]

Our language is soaked in words that have a religious origin. The days of the week are named after pagan gods: the Moon's day, Tiw's day, Woden's day, Thor's day, Freya's day. When you end a conversation, you say "good-bye," what once was a contraction for "god be with ye." When you call someone a thug, you're referring to a Hindu sect, the thuggees. Most English Christians likely don't realize that the name "Easter" derives from a fertility goddess, Astarte. (In Romance languages, this Christian holiday has a more Christian name: Pascual, or passover.)

As an atheist, the religious origin of words doesn't bother me in the least. The notion that words carry a kind of magic, that by saying a word one somehow invokes the gods of its origin, is a religious idea. I don't recognize a mythical Christ when I call something a Christmas tree, or use "Christmas" as a name for our winter holiday. That Christians still imbue it with religious overtone is entirely irrelevant.