I am sure that the Straight Dope covered this somewhere but a number of searches of the site haven’t revealed anything so I’ll post it and no doubt some kind person will flame me with the actual article.
What is the origin of “amen” as used by Jew, Christians and Moslems?
So far I have
a) untranslated use of Hebrew word meaning faith/truth/verily
b)kabbalah reveals that its numerical values equal adonai/jehovah
c)use of egyptian gods name revealing egyptian sources of the Bible and possible link with theory that Akhenaten is Moses although Akhenaten’s God is of course the Aten which is a specific aspect only of Amen-re, a somewhat tenuous connection.
Does anyone have the definitive response? Did Cecil ever cover this or am I hallucinating (amen!)?