Santorum Takes His Gospel of Individualism to Dordt College

Angling in the English Stream

Some of you may remember that for about three years back around the turn of the century (isn’t that an impressive phrase!) I had a five-minute radio spot on KDCR Dordt College radio called “What’s the Good Word.”  On it I would take ordinary words, talk about their etymology and history and show how their meanings had changed over time.   In 2003 I published a collection of these words, Angling in the English Stream.  In my blog I plan to publish one of these short word history/meditations each week.  About a week ago, it was the word resurrection.  I have chosen today’s word, alas, because like resurrection, I discuss it in the context of Holy Week. 

Alas

One of my favorite hymns is the Lenten hymn written by Johann Heerman and translated by the English poet Robert Bridges: "Ah! Dearest Jesus" (now titled "Ah! Holy Jesus” in CRC hymnbooks).  The second stanza of this song is for me the single most emotionally powerful stanza of any song I know. And especially the second line of the stanza.  Nothing wrenches my heart like these words:

Who was the guilty?  Who brought this upon thee?

Alas my treason, Jesus hath undone thee.

‘Twas I Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee;

I crucified thee.

But alas, it has been changed to "It is my treason, Lord, that has undone you" by the last two Christian Reformed hymnal revision committees.  To my ear and heart, the difference in the power of those two lines is immense.  The word alas carries tons of regret and anguish.  It has been replaced by the innocuous pronoun it and the weak little linking verb is.  I can't understand why.  You might say, "Well, obviously alas is an obsolete word."  Perhaps, but most folks still know what it means.  And strangely the hymnbook committee did not eliminate “Alas” in the hymn right across the page, "Alas and Did My Savior Bleed"?

If it is not archaic, has it been removed from the song because it expresses too much emotion?  Is that why the first line of the first stanza has been changed from dearest to holy? 

Perhaps a good reason for the change can be given. But my point today about the little word alas is that words convey connotative meanings that are powerful, and when they are changed and synonyms are substituted, we don't always end up with the same thing we had before. 

If alas is archaic, I wonder what we can substitute for it.  I can't think of anything at all.  "Oh, my?”  "Shucks?”  "Dear me?”  We could speculate as to why we have no modern equivalent for alas, and suggest that we live in an age where the expression of guilt and anguish over sins or even mistakes is simply not a significant factor in our lives.  Perhaps.

In any case, it is interesting to note that the word alas did not, in its original usage, convey deep anguish.  That seems to have developed over time.  Alas comes from the Latin lassus from which we get our English word lassitude and which originally was an exclamation of weariness.  Ah combined with the las of lassus meant "how boring" or "how wearisome."  But over the years it came to be an expression of grief or anguish--and a very powerful one.