Origin of Word
The Hebrew root N-H-G (Hebrew: נ-ה-ג) means primarily "to drive" or, by extension, "to conduct (oneself)".
The actual word minhag appears twice in the Hebrew Bible, both times in the same verse:
And the watchman told, saying: 'He came even unto them, and cometh not back; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.' (II Kings 9:20, KJV)Homiletically, one could argue that the use of the word minhag in Jewish law reflects its Biblical Hebrew origins as "the (manner of) driving (a chariot)". Whereas Halakha (law), from the word for walking-path, means the path or road set for the journey, minhag (custom), from the word for driving, means the manner people have developed themselves to travel down that path more quickly.
The present use of minhag for custom may have been influenced by the Arabic minhaj, though in current Islamic usage this term is used for the intellectual methodology of a scholar or school of thought (cf. Hebrew derech) rather than for the customs of a local or ethnic community.
Read more about this topic: Minhag
Famous quotes containing the words origin of, origin and/or word:
“The real, then, is that which, sooner or later, information and reasoning would finally result in, and which is therefore independent of the vagaries of me and you. Thus, the very origin of the conception of reality shows that this conception essentially involves the notion of a COMMUNITY, without definite limits, and capable of a definite increase of knowledge.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“High treason, when it is resistance to tyranny here below, has its origin in, and is first committed by, the power that makes and forever re-creates man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“She speaks poniards, and every word stabs.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)