[Ads-l] Earliest Use of "Live Long and Prosper"

[Clai Rice]

I've always connected "Live long and prosper" to the Ancient Egyptian ankh wdja snb, which appears so frequently after the pharaoh's name that in translation it is just abbreviated as "L.P.H." The the words are basically "life, prosperity, health," but their grammar is still contested. It is clearly an epithet, not a greeting, but I don't think the optative is ruled out (May he live, prosper, and be healthy). In any case, I've always just thought "May he live long and prosper" and been done with it.

Look, it has it's own Wikipedia page! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh_wedja_seneb

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Fred Shapiro" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 12:17:45 PM
> Subject: Earliest Use of "Live Long and Prosper"
> 
> 
> The Star Trek Vulcan blessing, "Live long and prosper," has been around for a
> while on Earth, I believe.  Can anyone help me discover the earliest
> findable occurrence of this phrase?
> 
> Fred Shapiro
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org