O come, O Rod of Jesse, free Your own from Satan's tyranny; From depths of hell your people save, And give the victory o'er the grave. Latin 13th century translated by John M Neale (1818-1866) English is a funny old language. I'm not stupid, I know my Bible and I've got a good working knowledge of the origins and derivations of words in English, yet every time I sing this verse of this advent hymn I have a picture of Jesus laying about him with a big stick, beating the Devil and his demons with this "rod of Jesse". Of course thats not the intended image. The original Latin of this verse goes: O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem Gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare. The modern English word "radish" is derived from the Latin "radix" but it is not this specific usage referred to here (the image of Christ as a small purplish vegetable is no mo...
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