Word of the Week: 'Sustain'
In its most literal sense, "sustain" means to hold up from beneath. Sustain comes from the root "to stretch." In Latin, sustain came to mean to hold, keep, maintain, to cause to endure or continue, to hold onto. It also has the sense of holding by the hand and sustenance.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines sustain as supporting the efforts, conduct or cause of; to succor, support or back up; and to give support to a person's conduct, a cause or a course of action. Sustain also means to hold up, bear the weight of and keep from falling by support from below.
Sustain also has the sense of keeping at something, the sense of stretching for the long haul. While the symbolic act of the sustaining raised hand lasts only a moment, it is emblematic of a commitment for the long term.
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The word "sustain" is found nowhere in the New Testament...
Clyde | April 3, 2008 at 9:54 a.m.
