Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Oath

Oath: noun - a sincereassertion, often invoking a deity, as to a truth declared, or as uttercommitment to future action or behaviour; making this type of declaration; asworn declaration in a court of law; a careless declaration, usually naming adeity but with no intent of reverence, made to corroborate a statement; acasual use of the name of a deity, in assertion or imprecation; a profane orblasphemous utterance, an expletive, a curse.
'As a profoundly sincere and passionate atheist, Marydecided to take her oath not on the Holy Book but on the life of her belovedfather.'
Expressions such as: 'Oh, my God!', 'Jesus Christ!', 'God's teeth!' are all oaths, in thesense that they are used as expletives. Interestingly, expletives of a similarsort from Muslims regarding Allah are almost unheard of. This perhaps hassomething to do with the threat of death to any Muslim who dares profane thename of their god. And is somewhat similar to the threat of serious punishmentmade by the Christian church against blasphemers in the Middle Ages. Althoughthe Christian church has never had an equivalent threat of death for suchoaths, I wonder, is there any validity in the popular opinion amongst thosewithout faith that Islam is at the same stage as Christianity was in the MiddleAges?


Pic: The sea wall at Staithes, North Yorkshire.