One of the features common to many religions is the idea of dualism, or, more precisely, good-evil dualism. This is a religious worldview that sees an on-going struggle or battle between good and evil both in the world and within the soul. With regard to the afterlife, dualism is often expressed in the concepts of heaven and hell. The concept of good-evil dualism is found in many cultures and religions throughout the world.
The definitions of what constitutes good and evil often stems from religion. For example, writing about ancient Egypt in his book The Ancient Gods: The History and Diffusion of Religion in the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean, E.O. James writes:
“The good was that which was pleasing to the gods, and the evil that which was displeasing to them, though evil was held to have come from them.”
Many modern religions use a similar concept.
Turning away from the religious definitions and origins of good and evil, let us look briefly at the etymologies—the word histories—of the English words good and evil.
Good
The word good is from the Old English gōd meaning “excellent, fine; valuable; desirable, favorable, beneficial; full, entire, complete.” The Old English gōd is from the Proto-Germanic *gōda- meaning “fitting, suitable” which comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *ghedh- meaning "to unite, be associated, suitable."
In late Old English, gōd acquired a sense of “kind, benevolent” in reference to people or God. In addition, gōd acquired the meaning of “fortunate, prosperous, favorable.” With regard to occupations or trades, gōd came to mean “skilled, expert.”
By the 1690s, good when used to describe children implied “well-behaved.”
The origins of some of the common good expressions are described below.
As good as with the meaning of “practically, virtually” emerged in the fourteenth century.
To be good for meaning “beneficial to” also emerged in the fourteenth century.
To have a good mind meaning “have an earnest desire” in reference to doing something is found by about 1500.
Good deed, good works meaning “an act of piety” is found in Old English. The use of good deed meaning “an act of service to others” came about in the early twentieth century with the Boy Scout movement.
Referring to a person as a good sport is first found in 1906.
Referring to the Bible as the good book began in 1801 in the missionary literature about the efforts to convert American Indians.
Good to go first emerged in 1989.
Good-bye or goodbye doesn’t actually come from good but from the phrase God be with you. The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories explains:
“The phrase gradually eroded over time, appearing in such versions as God be wy you (in the sixteenth century), God b’y you (in the seventeenth), and numerous other versions before settling on good-bye in the nineteenth century, the final form buttressed by the example of good night and good day.”
This type of shortening is fairly common in English and goodbye is often shortened to bye. The first recorded use of goodbye was in a 1573 letter written by Gabriel Harvey.
Evil
In his Dictionary of Word Origins, John Ayto writes:
“Evil has got distinctly worse over the millennia. Originally, it seems to have signified nothing more sinister that ‘uppity,’ and in the Old and Middle English period it meant simply ‘bad’; it is only in modern English that its connotations of ‘extreme moral wickedness” came to the fore.”
With regard to etymology, evil most likely came from the Old English ufel (Kentish evel) meaning “bad, vicious, ill, wicked.” Going back farther in time, evil has its roots in the Proto-Germanic *ubilaz) which is from the Proto-Indo-European *upelo- which is based on the root *wap- meaning “bad.”
The term evil twin as an excuse for regrettable deeds is first recorded in 1986 in American English.
More Etymology
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