chat

Ohh this is a great conversation, thank you!

To add onto this: many Christians may be familiar with the term "benediction", which is literally "good speech." This is a blessing, where good words are invoked to bless you (usually as the end of a sermon, to bless you as you depart).

Its opposite also exists: malediction. A malediction (literally "evil speech") is a curse. Curse stems from Gaeilge (Irish). Cúrsachadh means abuse, so to curse someone is to literally wish harm upon them; it is a very real and dangerous threat. Malediction stems from Latin, but there is also an Irish term, mallacht, that has the same root as malediction.

Cursing in Irish was seen as a literal violence: it is a poetic art with the power to disrupt lives. In fact, it was common for a poet to be brought to battles to curse enemies. The satirical verse (glám dícenn) was one such form, and often the point was to render the target unclean (escaine). Essentially, to besmirch them. Another was conntracht (from Latin contradictio), which was literally to speak against someone. With conntracht, someone could even speak against royalty, which was a serious accusation that required legal arbitration. In the County Waterford area, a word for curse--guídóireacht--is also used to mean praying.

All of this to say that cursing was built on the belief that speaking evil against someone was actually harmful--that it would be literally damaging to them, not just through diminishing of reputation. And that this evil was usually connected to making unclean, impure, abusing, or making common--in a Christian society, this then naturally lent to the most powerful curses being ones that targeted someone's connection to God. To paint someone with sin, or to curse--to pray--to God to bring justice and punishment. (Pre-Christian curses were wild too, I could go on forever about Irish curse-culture, but I just wanted to add a bit on the Christian elements and why praying to God to damn someone was a literal call for someone to be tortured for eternity and seen as one of the highest forms of punishment).

Edit: recommend The Book of Irish Curses by Dr. Patrick C. Power