Thank you, Bruce. I actually was not puzzled by "so" or "in this" but by
how "help me" came to have seemingly nothing to do with helping in the
usual sense. Similar oaths asserting truthfulness like "As God is my
witness" and "I swear by all that is holy" and even "May God strike me dead
if I am lying" are more transparent.

So let me rephrase my question, which I did a poor job of posing: Was there
a semantic shift that occured with "so help me God"? If so, can anyone shed
light on it?

Dick

On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 9:03 AM, Bruce Despain <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dick,
> Yes, though it has not changed meaning at all.  "So help me, God" => "May
> God help me in this."  It seemed you were puzzled that the phrase "in this"
> could refer to Avery's deed.  If fact, it appears that it does not.  It
> seems rather to mean "in this assertion."  In the situation of an oath, the
> performative verbs "swear" or "affirm" are actually expressed.  In Avery's
> statement the performative meaning "I assert" is not expressed but meant to
> be understood.  Thus the "in this," i.e, the "so," is referring not to
> Avery's deed, which he denies, but the assertion about the deed, which
> in normal declarative sentences is not expressed in words.
> Bruce
>
> --- [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> From: Dick Veit <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Analyzing "so help me God"
> Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:32:34 -0500
>
>
> Bruce,
>
> Can you clarify this for me? Does this respond to my puzzlement about how
> a phrase whose literal meaning paraphrases as "May God help me" has come to
> have the sense "I swear this assertion is true"?
>
> Dick
>
> On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 5:21 PM, Bruce Despain <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>  Dick,
> The performative of an oath is replaced by a declarative assertion by
> Avery.  The performative meaning would be:"I assert that I did not, so help
> me God" so that the performance needing authority from God is the
> assertion, not the deed.
> Bruce
>
> --- [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> From: Dick Veit <[log in to unmask]>
>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Analyzing "so help me God"
> Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 09:02:18 -0500
>
>
> In the future, when I need information on any language question, I will
> simply write, "So help me, Herb!" Thanks, all who replied, for your erudite
> responses.
>
> A follow-up: Since the phrase literally means "May God help me in this," I
> find it curious that it has come to signify "I swear I am telling the
> truth" ("Asked if he raped the man accusing Engelhardt and Shero, Avery
> said: 'I did not. So help me God'." [reference<http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/So-Help-Me-God-Ex-Priest-Recants-Plea-187354151.html>]),
> which has nothing to do with asking for divine assistance. If anything, the
> intent is "May God punish me if I lie."
>
> Dick
>
>
>  On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 10:53 PM, Stahlke, Herbert <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>  Dick,
>
> The OED Online gives the following as the third entry under "help, v."
>
>  *c.* In *subj. pres.*, in invocations and oaths: *esp.* in so help me God,
> the customary formula in a solemn oath; and in God help him (them, etc.) ,
> often a parenthetical exclamation of pity for the helpless condition of the
> person spoken of. Also ellipt. so help me, and as a variant so help me bob
> ."help," then, would be, as the OED says, present subjunctive, hence no
> agreement.  The subject verb inversion would, I think, be due to the
> initial adverb "so."  We get such inversion regularly with negative
> adverbs, as in "Never had I seen one before," but it feels a bit archaic
> with "so," and I think it is archaic.  What's odd is that the SVI also
> moves the subject "God" beyond the object "me."  I don't have an
> explanation for that.
>
> Herb
>
>  Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
> Emeritus Professor of English
> Ball State University
> Muncie, IN  47306
> [log in to unmask]
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [
> [log in to unmask]] on behalf of Dick Veit [[log in to unmask]]
> *Sent:* Monday, January 21, 2013 1:16 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Analyzing "so help me God"
>
>  Starting with FDR, presidents have appended "so help me(,) God" to the
> end of the inaugural oath. Can someone parse the phrase for me? When people
> say, "So help me!" they mean something like "I swear to God" or "May God
> punish me if I am not telling the truth." They don't seem to mean a
> supplicative "May God help me."
>
> I would be grateful for an informed analysis of how the actual words
> signify the phrase's meaning.
>
> Dick
>
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