anathema maranatha
(mærəˈneɪθə)
[Gr. ἀνάθεµα a thing accursed; Μαρὰν ἀθά = Syriac māran ethā ‘the Lord hath come.’ (The pron. ought to be məˌrænəˈθɑː)]
These words occur together in 1 Cor. xvi. 22. According to modern criticism, maran atha is a distinct sentence having no connexion with anathema; but in earlier texts of the Greek it was connected with it and the connexion variously explained; hence anathema maranatha has been taken as a portentously intensified form of anathema in its various senses.
| 1526 Tindale 1 Cor. xvi. 22 Yf eny man love not the lorde Jesus Christ, the same be anathema maranatha. [Wyclif, Be he cursid, mara natha. 1611 Let him bee Anathema Maranatha. 1881 (Revised) Let him be Anathema. Maranatha.] 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Others will have Anathema maranatha to have answered to the third and highest degree of excommunication among the Jews. 1856 Mrs. Stowe Dred II. ii. 23, I don't see the sense of such an anathema maranatha as we got to-day. |