Ah-men VS Ey-men

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Just curious… which do you prefer? Sorry if my approximations are off:

howjsay.com/index.php?word=amen Here’s what the recording says: Ah-men and also American Ey-men. (I guess it’s an accent thing as well??:confused:)

EDIT: I’m asking because there’s a local parish which leans traditional, and maybe 1/3 of the congregation says Ah-men. Then I went to an (obviously traditional) Latin mass, where during mass it was Ah-men, but during the pre-mass rosary, in English, it was Ey-men. It’s just been on my mind lately 🙂
 
I prefer Ah-men, just because that’s how I pronounce it when I pray in latin.
 
I say “Ay-men”, following spoken prayers like the Our Father and Hail Mary, etc., and when receiving the Body and the Blood of Christ

When we sing, it is usually “Ah-men”

I seem to recall that when I was in parochial school, we were taught to say Ah-men for Latin, and Ay-men in English.
 
ljubim said:
That’s what I think too. I still like Ey-men though, it’s like my default 😛
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I never gave it much thought, until now. But I am like you, and mostly say Ah-men in prayer and response in Mass. Come to think of it, Ey-men sounds almost protestant:confused: in that in secular songs, it seems that’s where I’ve heard it pronounced Ey-men.:confused:

Please don’t hit me for saying that! I didn’t mean it to be offensive.😊

Oh! And E’s in Hawaiian is pronounced as a sharp A and A’s as ah.🤷
 
zab said:
I say “Ay-men”, following spoken prayers like the Our Father and Hail Mary, etc., and when receiving the Body and the Blood of Christ

When we sing, it is usually “Ah-men”

I seem to recall that when I was in parochial school, we were taught to say Ah-men for Latin, and Ay-men in English.
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Yes, that’s exactly right! And always Ah-men when sung. Did we go to the same school? Did you have Sister Mary Loretto in 3rd grade?
 
PhilotheaZ said:
Yes, that’s exactly right! And always Ah-men when sung. Did we go to the same school? Did you have Sister Mary Loretto in 3rd grade?
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No, I had the School Sisters of Notre Dame when they wore the old big starched veils.
In grade school, I had Sister Miriam Edwards, Sister Emily Marie, Sr. Frances Anne, Sr. Cordilia, And Sr. Emmett
 
zab said:
No, I had the School Sisters of Notre Dame when they wore the old big starched veils.
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Sisters of Mercy, lightly starched, and by the time I graduated the veils were gone. 😦
 
Both “Amen” and “Adam” are corruptions of the language.

In concept;
Ahmen == Spirit be manifest
Ahdam == Gathered spirit
 
Like said:
I never gave it much thought, until now. But I am like you, and mostly say Ah-men in prayer and response in Mass. **Come to think of it, Ey-men sounds almost protestant:confused: in that in secular songs, it seems that’s where I’ve heard it pronounced Ey-men.:confused:

Please don’t hit me for saying that! I didn’t mean it to be offensive.😊**

Oh! And E’s in Hawaiian is pronounced as a sharp A and A’s as ah.🤷
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:slapfight:

No, just kidding 😃 I wonder the same thing too.
 
In Latin - Ah-men
In English - Ey-men
Sung - mostly Ah-men
Protestant - Ah-men almost exclusively. Sometimes even Aw-men.

In my experience, in my neck of the woods!

Betsy
 
baltobetsy said:
In Latin - Ah-men
In English - Ey-men
Sung - mostly Ah-men
Protestant - Ah-men almost exclusively. Sometimes even Aw-men.

In my experience, in my neck of the woods!

Betsy
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Baltimore, right? (from your signature, don’t worry :rotfl:) In the south (I’m here temporarily) the televangelists(protestants) seem to say Ey-men more.

Aw-men is sort of funny 😃 Maybe I’ll try that one on the Angel of God tomorrow morning and see what my family does! Thanks for breaking it down too 🙂 God bless,
Ljubim
 
I grew up saying ey-men, but I often find myself shifting back and forth between ah-men and ey-men, using one in a given situation but employing the other in another. I chose ah-men however, as I’m more fond of it. 😉

Ah-men is historically the original pronunciation, more closer to how the word is pronounced in the original languages (Hebrew and Aramaic ah-main/ah-men/o-main/ah-min, Greek ah-mín, Latin ah-men) as well as other tongues. Today, it is still usual in British English, and is used in performances of classical music, in churches with more formalized rituals and liturgy and liberal Evangelical Protestant denominations - or so sayeth wikipedia.

The pronunciation ey-men, meanwhile, is a product of the Great Vowel Shift during the 15th century, “is associated with Irish Protestantism and conservative Evangelical Protestant denominations generally, and the pronunciation that is typically sung in gospel music.”
 
Ah-men because that’s the way it’s said in French and I didn’t change it when I moved to predominantly English parishes.
 
The pronunciation in Greek, Slavonic, and Arabic is Ah-MEEN, accent on the second syllable, which is closer to the Hebrew pronunciation.
 
patrick457 said:
Ah-men is historically the original pronunciation, more closer to how the word is pronounced in the original languages (Hebrew and Aramaic ah-main/ah-men/o-main/ah-min, Greek ah-mín, Latin ah-men) as well as other tongues. Today, it is still usual in British English, and is used in performances of classical music, in churches with more formalized rituals and liturgy and liberal Evangelical Protestant denominations - or so sayeth wikipedia.

The pronunciation ey-men, meanwhile, is a product of the Great Vowel Shift during the 15th century, “is associated with Irish Protestantism and conservative Evangelical Protestant denominations generally, and the pronunciation that is typically sung in gospel music.”
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Yes that aligns with my experience and impressions. I always say Ah-men. I’ve noticed that as in many things in Australia, there is a Sydney-Melbourne divide. In Melbourne most people say Ah-men but in Sydney (which historically has had more US and Protestant cultural influences) many if not most people say Ey-men.
 
zab said:
I seem to recall that when I was in parochial school, we were taught to say Ah-men for Latin, and Ay-men in English.
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But Amen is actually Hebrew. Has never really been translated into English or Latin.

(So are the words, Alleluia, Sabbaoth, and Hosanna, by the way.)
 
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