This week, as those in the U.S. celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving, we will focus on words of gratitude and blessing. It may be a short week, for the sad fact is that there seem to be very few such words beyond the obvious and familiar ones like 'gratitude'.

Indeed even our first term-of-thanks is usually used ironically, though OED gives only the positive sense. Our quotes amusingly illustrate the irony.

non nobis – 1. interjection, expressing gratitude or thanksgiving (also 'non nobis, Domine'). from the next meaning 2. a hymn of that title, used in 'popular entertainment. (Each meaning often ironic.)

The hymn takes the opening words of Psalm 115:1, saying "The glory of the deed is not ours, but God's".

Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam
(Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory

The hymn is, I understand, a breath-takingly beautiful round in four-part a cappella harmony, written by Handel but usually attributed to William Byrd (1543 – 1623).

In Shakespeare's Henry V the hymn celebrates the victory at Agincourt. "Do we all holy rites: Let there be sung ‘Non Nobis' and ‘Te Deum'." (This is an anachronism in that, at that time, the hymn had not yet been written.) A modern version of that play converts the hymn to a very different meaning.

In Doyle's score for [Ken] Branagh's Henry V, the Non nobis theme can be found in several moments of the film to evoke the waste of war.
– Sarah Hatchuel, Shakespeare

Below are three other ironic uses. In the first two the hymn has become almost a drinking song at the end of a banquet. In the last, the speaker saying, "Not me" to mean "Not my fault," rather than to attribute glory to God. They are so much fun that I quote at length.

'Pray, silence, gentlemen, if you please, for Non Nobis!' shouts the toast-master with stentorian lungs … The uninitiated portion of the guests applaud Non nobis as vehemently as if it were a capital comic song, greatly to the scandal of and indignation of the regular diners, who immediately attempt to quell this sacrilegious approbation, by cries of 'Hush, hush!' whereupon the others, mistaking these sounds for hisses, applaud more tumultuously than before, and, by way of placing their approval beyond the possibility of doubt, shout 'Encore!' most vociferously.
– Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz

We can eat no more. We are full of Bacchus and venison. But a great rap, tap tap proclaimed grace, after which the [hired singers] sang out, "Non Nobis'" and then the dessert and the speeches began. … Mr. Chisel, the immortal toast-master, roared out, “Non Nobis;” and what is called “the business of the evening” commenced.
– William Makepeace Thackeray, Sketches and Travels in London

the modern advocate, after having confounded all the ancients … will not be satisfied to condemn the rest of the world without applauding himself; and falling into a rapture upon the contemplation of his own wonderful performance…. [He should] have as had as much grace as a French lawyer … who, after a dull and tedious argument, that had wearied the court and the company, when he went from the bar was heard muttering to himself, Non nobis, Domine, non nobis; but this writer …. would not have [the victory] ascribed to the grace of God, [or] have his own perfections and excellencies owing to any thing else but the true force of this own modern learning: and thereupon he falls into this sweet ecstasy of joy, wherein I shall leave him till he come to himself.
– Sir William Temple, commenting on Swift's work, in J. Swift (ed.), Miscellanea. The Third Part (1701).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: wordcrafter,

Nice theme, and Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans!

beatitude – 1. supreme blessedness or happiness 2. Heaven (in the sense of a place)
(also, any of the "blessed are" declarations in the Sermon on the Mount)

The heaven definition, though not in OED, seems to me supported by usage, such as that below. The first will help you remember the word.

Sure, you’ll be playing a harp in beatitude
(And a quare sight you will be in that attitude)—
Some day, where gratitude seems but a platitude,
You’ll find your latitude, Barney McGee.
– Richard Hovey, Barney McGee
[note: "quare" = dialect for "queer"]

Afterlife: A great chasm separates the place of beatitude from the place of fiery punishment (Luke 16:26). In the place of beatitude people enjoy sumptuous banquets in the presence of God and the patriarchs (Matt 8:11), while the envious damned are compelled to witness (Luke 13:28).
– Raymond Edward Brown, An Introduction to New Testament Christology

Today's word is an obscure one. I include it as exemplifying how far one must reach to find terms of gratitude. It is also, of course, an eponym from Minerva, goddess of wisdom.

minerval – a gift given in gratitude by a pupil to a teacher; also a fee paid to a schoolteacher [Wordcrafter: presumably one which is called, with genteel tact, a 'gift'.]

. . . .On the Continent, character-building `factories for gentlemen' are thin on the ground. Belgium has various private academies for rich kids, the most famous being l'Abbaye de Maredsous, where parents pay a 'minerval' proportionate to their income; Salem in south Germany is a smart private school where Thomas Mann sent his children.
. . . .Otherwise, Eurotrash babes have to slum it in Le Rosey, the boarding school in Switzerland that is the alma mater of King Baudouin, the former Shah of Iran, the Duke of Kent, Prince Victor-Emmanuel of Savoy and Prince Rainier of Monaco, as well as generation upon generation of Metternichs, Borgheses and Hohenzollerns.
. . . .Or they get sent to school in England
– Rachel Johnson, The Spectator, Oct. 28, 2000

benison – a blessing

Here are two very different example of a father withholding his benison from his child.

He taught him some Raleigh, / And some of Macaulay,
. . . .Till all of "Horatius" he knew,
And the drastic, sarcastic, / Fantastic, scholastic
. . . .Philippics of "Junius," too.
He made him learn lots / Of the poems of Watts,
. . . .And frequently said he ignored,
On principle, any son's / Title to benison
. . . .Till he'd learned Tennyson's / "Maud."
- Guy Wetmore Carryl


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . for we
Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
That face of hers again. Therefore be gone
Without our grace, our love, our benison.
- Shakespeare, King Lear

gramercy (interj.; obsolete) - used to express 1. thankfulness 2. surprise (as in 'mercy me!"). Various spellings.
[Old French grant = grand or great, + merci ‘reward for merit’. So the phrase meant ‘may God reward you greatly’. The accent is on the second syllable; contrast GRAMercy Park in New York City.]

"Have here right good speed, sir, for your good will," quoth the canon, "grammercy and farewell!"
- Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Canon's Yeoman's tale (Mackaye rendering, 1904)

hosanna; hosannah (interj.) - used to express praise or adoration to God
[Hebrew for "Save us!"]