Rest in peace united in Christ." The abbreviation R.I.P., meaning "Requiescat in pace" "Rest in peace", continues to be engraved on the gravestones of Christians, especially in the Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican denominations. In the Tridentine Requiem Mass of the Catholic Church the phrase appears several times. To satisfy a vogue for rhyming couplets on tombstones, the phrase has been parsed ungrammatically as: This verse has been found inscribed in Hebrew on gravestones dating from the 1st century BC, in the graveyard of Bet Shearim. It speaks of the righteous person who died because he could not stand the evil surrounding him. A
Latin influence in English text in Latin, the prevalent Medieval lingua franca of Europe. However, when monks occasionally wrote in the vernacular, Latin words were translated by finding suitable Old English equivalents. Often, a Germanic word was adopted and given a new shade of meaning in the process. Such was the case with Old English "gōdspell" ("gospel") for Latin "evangelium". Previously, the Old English word simply meant "good news," but its meaning was extended in Old English to fit a religious context. The same occurred for the Old Germanic pagan word "blētsian", which meant "to sacrifice, consecrate by shedding blood". It was adapted by