1494 Will of Alys Northwood of Thanet

[shanreagh]

I was interested in the bit the beginning, "In the name of God so behit". So be it looks like a translation of Amen. i don't think I've ever seen that in a will.

I don't think it is a translation of Amen. I think it was a phrase that was used.  Ie 'In the name of God, so be it.'

'So be it' means 'Let it be so, I accept it as it is.'

[goldie61]

I was interested in the bit the beginning, "In the name of God so behit". So be it looks like a translation of Amen. i don't think I've ever seen that in a will.

I don't think it is a translation of Amen. I think it was a phrase that was used.  Ie 'In the name of God, so be it.'

'So be it' means 'Let it be so, I accept it as it is.'

Surely 'Amen' actually means 'So be it'?
Or have a misread this shanreach?

[Vance Mead]

[/quote]

Surely 'Amen' actually means 'So be it'?
Or have a misread this shanreach?
[/quote]

That's what Amen means. Almost all wills at that time began "In the name of God Amen" or "In dei nomine Amen." I don't think I've seen one that replaced Amen with so be it.

[Wayne N]

An explanation of 'so be it' and 'Amen'
https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-exactly-does-amen-mean


With a bit of digging, here is 'So be hit' used in a couple of transcriptions of early Wills.

https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Fifty_Earliest_English_Wills_in_the/hlUJAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=In+the+name+of+God+so+behit&pg=PA73&printsec=frontcover

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/EEWills/1:55?rgn=div1;view=fulltext#:~:text=In%20the%20name%20of%20the,seat%20of%20the%20Earls%20of

[shanreagh]

I was interested in the bit the beginning, "In the name of God so behit". So be it looks like a translation of Amen. i don't think I've ever seen that in a will.

I don't think it is a translation of Amen. I think it was a phrase that was used.  Ie 'In the name of God, so be it.'

'So be it' means 'Let it be so, I accept it as it is.'

Surely 'Amen' actually means 'So be it'?
Or have a misread this shanreach?

Well after an Anglican boarding school education etc this is not my translation of Amen.  The quote I used did not use Amen as a synonym  only the quoted  'Let it be so, I accept it as it is.'

My meaning of this is that the writer or signer accepted that everything is the will, majesty or mystery of God or from God's benefice, including the ability to live, to die, to have children or friends  and to have items to leave or even to reassure that he did not seek to look behind anything that what he saw he accepted as an expression of God's will. 

Shanreagh:

https://www.townlands.ie/londonderry/keenaght/tamlaght-finlagan/fruithill/shanreagh/