A reader writes:
Is there a difference between using Blessed (Bless-Ed), or Blessed (Bles-t) outside of a grammatical preference or usage?
If I understand you correctly, the answer is that the adjective "blessed" originally had a single meaning but that it has come to be pronounced differently in different situations. It also has related noun and verb forms. There isn’t much of a difference in meaning much of the time (besides the obvious shifts caused by using the word as a verb or a noun), but there are rules on how it is pronounced.
We say /bless-ed/ when:
- We use it as a title (not an adjective), as in "Blessed John of Wherever."
- We are using it as an adjective in front of a noun, as in "What a
blessed fool you are!" - It comes immediately
before the verb, as in "Blessed be the beasts and the children" or "Blessed are the peacemakers."
On the other hand, we say /blest/ when:
- We use it as a past tense
verb ("The pope blessed the people"), and - We use it
as an adjective following the verb ("He felt very blessed").
At least that’s how it sounds to my English-speaking American Catholic ear.
Your mileage may vary.
And it may vary in particular if you are a member of a different religious community. The above are the way Catholics do it, I’ve heard converts who haven’t absorbed these usages yet do it differently.
