Dear baroncharles-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.
Actually, the phrase “gut feeling” is derived from what was once
common understanding in early Hebrew times and statements in the
Christian Holy Bible.
In Biblical times, it was commonly believed that various parts of the
body were directly related to certain natural functions or abilities.
The head, the heart, the hand, the foot, the bowels for example were
all seen as centers or sources of some of man’s physical, mental,
emotional or spiritual attributes. The bowels are referred to many
times in the Bible when people are referring, not necessarily to the
organ itself, but in a more abstract way to the action or attribute it
represents. At the time, however, Hebrews has no concept of abstract
thought. They merely explained emotions and emotional feelings by
using comparisons to their most fundamental human experiences. When
the Hebrew Bible was translated, the literal translations were the end
result. No attempt was made to decipher abstract thought. We are left
then with frequent Biblical references to these body parts as, for
example in the many references to the bowels when describing emotional
states, and left to consider the meaning of the scripture ourselves.
With regard to your question, as to the origin of the phrase “gut
feeling”, consider these scriptures from The Holy Bible:
Psalm 22:14
"I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my
heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels."
Here the author is saying my stomach is in knots, referring to the
“emotional” pain generated by witnessing Christ’s death on the cross.
Song of Solomon 5:4
"My beloved put his hand to the latch of the door, and my bowels were
moved for him."
Here, a bride is waiting for her groom. “Bowels” refers to the passion
she feels for him – an emotional “feeling”.
Lamentations 2:11
"Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled...."
Again, this is a direct reference to psychosomatic symptoms. The
intense emotional pain the author felt upon seeing the fall of his
beloved Jericho.
In the Old Testament, emotions were always communicated using the
lowest level of experience as a means of explaining a feeling. The
term “bowels” in the Hebrew Bible refers to the center of the body
from which the “whole” of our emotions were believed to originate.
Having explained that, this scripture then, is the origin of the
phrase, “gut feeling”:
1 John 3:17
"But whosoever hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have
need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth
the love of God in him?"
John, the author is simply saying, "Look, when you see somebody in
need, it should cause a gut feeling in you. It should stir your
emotions up and cause you to feel real anxiety in your stomach and to
know that helping this person is the right thing to do."
In more modern times, “gut feeling” also came to refer to intuition,
precognition or advance alert of a situation. But as you can see, even
these usages date back to the scripture above, as each is seen as “a
feeling in the pit of your stomach”, “funny feeling”, “a feeling deep
down inside, and so on. Therefore this modern use of the term “gut
feeling” can be clearly traced back to the same Biblical, or early
Hebrew, if you prefer, references to the bowels being the origin of
our emotions.
I hope you find that that my research exceeds your expectations. If
you have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga
INFORMATION SOURCES
STRENGTHEN YOUR HEART
http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/sg2139.htm
THE HOLY BIBLE
http://bible.gospelcom.net/
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Etymology “gut feeling”
Origin “gut feeling”
Phrase “gut feeling”
Phraseology “gut feeling”
“old saying” “gut feeling”
Holy Bible |
