The real meaning of "noon", How the ancient Jews (and medieval Christian monks) continue to influence modern society.
How “noon” came to mean “mid-day”I'm posting this because I'm reading John Loftus' "The End of Christianity," which contains an essay by Hector Avalos that argues that the Bible should not be studied because it is totally irrelevant to modern society. This seems like an apt counter-argument that could be replicated throughout modern culture.
As the Christian monks and priests, in their prayer books, had adopted the ancient Jewish mode of counting time, the Jewish “hours of the day” came to be identified with the “hours” (or prayers) of the Divine Office. Ultimately, the prayers of the Breviary came to be more dominant in the European mind even than the original meaning of the Jewish “hours”.
When the prayer of “none” (now pronounced and called “noon”) came to be prayed not at the “ninth hour” (i.e. 3pm) but at mid-day, 12 pm began to be called “none” after the prayer time of the monks and priests. Thus, the English word “noon” originally refers not to 12 pm (or mid-day) but to the “ninth hour” which is 3 pm. However, because the monks and priests began to pray the Breviary earlier in the day, the word “noon” has come to mean “mid-day” or 12 pm.
Modern society is rooted in Christianity and Judaism
Many modern secularists refuse to speak of “Christmas” and instead insist upon the “winter holiday season”. They do this in order to keep Judeo-Christian biblical ideas out of modern language.
However, if such secularists really wanted to “purify” modern language from its Christian and Jewish roots, they would have to stop using even the most common words – like “noon”. Here, as bad as modern society may sometimes seem, it is encouraging for Christians to remember that the biblical influence on modern western society is so deep that the only way to remove the Judeo-Christian roots would be to utterly destroy Western Civilization. We can only hope that the secularists will recognize this truth.
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