Today I found out the origin of the term “Goodbye”.

“Goodbye” comes from the term “Godbwye” a contraction of the phrase “God be with ye”. Depending on the source, the contraction seems to have first popped up somewhere between 1565 and 1575. The first documented use of the “Godbwye” appeared in a letter English writer and scholar Gabriel Harvey wrote in 1573.  In it, he wrote, “To requite your gallonde of godbwyes, I regive you a pottle of howdyes.”  As time went on, it is believed the phrase was influenced by terms like “good day” and “good evening”, transitioning then from “god be with ye” to god-b’wye to good-b’wy and finally ending in today’s blessing of goodbye.

Bonus Facts:

• In Spanish, there are several different ways to say goodbye: there is adiós, which literally translates “to god” but functionally means “good-bye”; hasta luego, literally meaning “Until then or next”; hasta la vista literally “until the sight” but functionally “see you later”.
• “Hasta La Vista, Baby” was popularized in American culture by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger was paid $15 million dollars for his role in T2. Having only 700 words of dialog in the movie, he was paid $21,429 for each word. That’s $85,716 for the phrase “Hasta la vista, baby”.
• The “Judgment Day” in the movie was August 29, 1997. This is the anniversary of the first atomic bomb detonated by the Soviet Union in 1949.
• The first nuclear bomb the Soviet Union detonated was RDS-1, also known as “first lightning”.
• On January 28, 1573, the same year Gabriel Harvey wrote his letter referenced above, the Articles of Warsaw Confederation were signed. These articles sanctioned the freedom of religion for Poland. At the time, Poland was populated by Poles, Lithuanians, Russians, Germans, Georgians, and Jews. Poland, as a result, had a very religiously tolerant society. When the King died the year previous leaving the reform of their legal system up in the air, it was feared that the election of an unsuitable candidate might bring this religious tolerance to a halt. This would have been disastrous for the region at the time because Poland was situated between Moscow, Turkey, and the rest of Western Europe which were themselves being torn apart by religious conflicts. Refugees from all of Poland’s neighboring countries would seek the tolerance of Poland, thereby escaping persecution in their home countries. Cardinal Hozjusz called Poland at the time “a place of shelter for heretics”. The confederation then legalized this societal tolerance and allowed for the peaceful co-existence of all religious denominations.
• Freedom of religion in the United States is provided for under the 1^st amendment to the US Constitution. The first amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” There are also 2 religious clauses to the first amendment. The establishment clause and the free exercise clause. They do not allow government to establish a national religion or show preference by the U.S. Government to one religion over another.
• The 14^th amendment of the US Constitution guarantees religious civil rights and prohibits discrimination, including on the basis of religion, by securing “the equal protection of the laws” for every person.
• On March 3^rd 1991 Rodney King was beaten by members of the Los Angeles police department. The acquittal of the police officers involved kicked off the “1992 South Central riots.
• The same videocassette recording that shot the beating of Rodney King was used earlier that same day to record the film crew of the Terminator 2 movie while they were themselves filming the exterior of a bar for the opening scene of the movie.
• On November 25, 1981, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a “Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief”. This declaration recognized that the international community believes freedom of religion to be a fundamental human right. It is unfortunate, however, that they haven’t passed any legal ramifications for those who do not guarantee the right to freedom of religion.
• A report by Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life showed that approximately 2.2 billion people live in countries where persecution for religious reasons increased between 2006 and 2009.