A religious origin is still obvious in French adieu, Spanish adiós, Italian addio, Portuguese adeus, and Catalan adéu ("to God", probably a contraction of "I entrust you to God"). In Finland, a religious group named Laestadians uses the form "Jumalan terve" ("God's greeting").
The use of adieu forms across languages reveals a common Christian heritage, with some examples potentially tracing back to a phrase like "I entrust you to God".