Ay-men/Ah-men?

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I am a convert from Protestantism, during my years as a Protestant in noticed that the only Protestant churches churches to pronounce amen as Ay-men were the anti-Catholic fundamentalist ones, Baptist, “church of Christ” Pentecostals often screamed AYYYYYY-MEN.

The Protestants who pronounced it as Ah-men were also the ones closer to Catholicism (Lutherans, and Episcopalians, also Methodists, and Presbyterians).

So why do Catholics want to be identified linguistically with the anti-Catholic fundies?

I may stick out at Mass, but I always say,ah-men, since I am not a Catholic hating fundamentalist.
 
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Kotton:
My folks taught me Ay-men, and that’s what the nuns also said. When singing the Mass, it was Ah-men, because that was Latin. I live here in the midle of the U.S.A.
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I grew up in the 60’s in the Cincinnati area, and it was always ay-men in spoken English prayers, and ah-men when sung, no matter the language. I don’t really remember any spoken Latin prayers, but I would guess there it was probably ah-men, too. That’s how my parents (both born in the 1920’s) did it, and how the priests, nuns, and lay teachers at my school did it.
 
In the book Lector’s Guide to Biblical Pronunciations, Updated by Joseph M. Staudacher, the word “Amen” is to be pronounced “ah-MEHN.”

So now this forum makes me question if I have been saying it “AH-mehn,” or “ah-MEHN.” :confused: Actually, I probably pronounce it either “AH-MEHN” and '“ah-mehn,” depending on my enthusiasm for the prayer being said! 😃

In any case, I am pretty sure that everyone, and most especially God, understands what we mean, reguardless of how it is said.

But now it is time for me to get back to loving others for their uniqueness. I would also like to thank you and bless you for bringing up an interesting topic! These forums remind me of conversations I used to have with my brother: fun to ponder and perhaps disagree, but it doesn’t change my love for the other person. Look at how many people have already responded to this forum (including me).

May God smile on us, today and always. AMEN!
 
Well, you hooked me with the apricot analogy.

I finished HS in the 70’s - so that sets the generation I’m from, and I moved from the East Coast to Northern California in the late 60’s, so that’s some regional background for my place in all this. I had the challenge of being East Coast accented, moving into an apricot orchard neighborhood, of all places. A SF Bay Area, high rent district apricot orchard community, none-the-less. I’ve have been plagued with being corrected on the California pronounciation so many times that at this point, North is South, South is North and I couldn’t tell you which is which for the life of me.

Ah-men vs Ay-men, I don’t know that I have ever noticed a preference, they sound the same to me.

And yet, I actually have quite an ear for some subtle accent differentiations. I worked for the Govt of Ireland for 3 years (long story that my Irish grandmother never could quite grasp, seeing as I was living and working in the States, with US companies as clients) and I can tell which part of Ireland most Irish accents originate from. It’s fun to come across someone and ask if they’re from Galway (or Dublin, or Belfast …) and have them look at me as though my head just rolled off. They really don’t expect an American to know this stuff!

But Ay-men, Ah-men. I guess that to me it’s more important to know that they both mean we are swearing an oath that what has been said is true, on our soul, on our breath. Even as I sit here trying, I can’t figure out which I “prefer” or have a greater tendancy to say. Argh.

Perhaps it’s because I feel a great love for our seperated Protestant breathren, and try to focus more on where we agree and what we see the same, that I have never even bothered to notice this difference.

It’s funny how when we get into discussing only somewhat significant details here among other Catholics, I can get really opinionated (heaven help me), but with those non-Catholic Christians who Love Christ, and are simply mislead in their distain for the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, I just want to help them see where we both agree in our amazing love for the Lord.

Go figure,

CARose

I guess I continue to marvel at how we are all different and yet it’s those differences which are necessary to cover all the functions of the Body of Christ.
 
I use to say, Ahmen, then saw Lillys of the Field.

How can Sidney be wrong? It was a Catholic movie, wasn’t it?
 
I’m in the say “ay-men,” sing “ah-men” group.

Now, here’s another one for you. In my mother-in-law’s Lutheran church, they say “ah-men” AND they pronounce “alleluia” so that the first syllable rhymes with “pal” or “gal”. I’d never heard anything other than “ah-lleluia” before. How about you?

Deborah
 
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debeater:
I’m in the say “ay-men,” sing “ah-men” group.

Now, here’s another one for you. In my mother-in-law’s Lutheran church, they say “ah-men” AND they pronounce “alleluia” so that the first syllable rhymes with “pal” or “gal”. I’d never heard anything other than “ah-lleluia” before. How about you?

Deborah
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I’ve not really heard that either. I guess they are trying to sound more like “Hallelujah”. I often hear that word pronounced so that the first syllabol rhymes with “pal” or “gal”.
 
Ay-men is the English pronunciation. Nonanglican languages would pronounce it as Ah-men.

Theodora
 
I’m in the say “ay-men,” sing “ah-men” group.

Now, here’s another one for you. In my mother-in-law’s Lutheran church, they say “ah-men” AND they pronounce “alleluia” so that the first syllable rhymes with “pal” or “gal”. I’d never heard anything other than “ah-lleluia” before. How about you?

Deborah
 
Ay-men is the English pronunciation.
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OK, here’s a new twist-- are we pronouncing an English word or are we pronouncing an imported Hebrew word?
We don’t change the pronunciation of, say, “hors d’oeurves” substatially in English because it is considered an imported foreign word. So, is Amen an English word or an imported word?
Who decides, the editors of a dictionary?

So, I’m hairsplitting of course. These kinds of things make for interesting discussions!
 
My mother once told me that when she was a girl, a sure way to spot a protestant was if they said Ah-men.

(and protestant spotting was quite a sport back then!)

Simon.
 
Ah-men is the correct pronunciation. It comes from Latin: Amen. If you know how to pronounce Latin, you can pronounce that word properly (ah-men). Ay-men is simply a mis-pronunciation and is wrong.
 
“My mother once told me that when she was a girl, a sure way to spot a protestant was if they said Ah-men”

I take it you have never been to, or heard the many different types of Baptists, “church of Christ”, Assembly of God, Pentecostals, United Pentecostal, basically any type of Protestant Fundamentalist. They all say AY-MEN (often shouting it).

The only type of Protestant that says Ah-men is the type that is closer to Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, ETC.

The Eastern Orthodox also say Ah-men in English, Ah-meen in Greek.

I am not a bible-worshipping fundy, and I do not say Ay-men. Maybe you are and you say Ay-men.
 
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boppysbud:
I am not a bible-worshipping fundy, and I do not say Ay-men. Maybe you are and you say Ay-men.
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Funnily enough my mother was actually commenting on the fact that I say Ah-men!!

It’s worth noting that my mother’s comment related to pre V2 England and I’m pretty confident that the Ay-men pronunciation (when said - not sung) was more or less universal practice for English speaking Catholics at this time.

I wonder if the shift towards the Ah-men pronunciation among English speaking Catholics is due in some part to a reaction against the ludicrous antics of some of our more enthusiastic seperated brethren?

With Love,

Simon.

P.S. Just to add confusion to the mix, the Irish (as in people from Ireland, rather than Americans with Irish ancestry) still tend to say Ay-men.
 
Your post adds creedence to my personal hypothesis. I suspect that the Ay-men pronounciation is of Irish/Gaelic and/or perhaps Scottish origination. It would likely be the accent of the common people rather than that of the upper class.

I think that this type of accent had a big influence on the US accents common in Southern states.

Come on! There must be some linguists out there reading this thread!
 
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