Origin of 'Oh my God'

[dustin-lee]

I'm sorry if this doesn't belong here, but I have no idea where else to ask this.


I'm doing research for a paper and I was wondering: does anyone know where the phrase "Oh my God" came from?


I have a theory that this phrase originated from Christians in the olden days seeing something terrible and saying 'Oh (my) God' like they were addressing God.

I could be way off and just be another pop-culture reference or something like that, but I came up with the theory on the basis that this phrase could be similar to phrases like "On the fence" "Bury the hatchet" "Straight from the Horse's mouth" "Make haste" (the list goes on and on).

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Kvikklunsj]

It was a serious reference to God (and still is in church/in prayer/in worship), as long as you're actually addressing God. The problem is that people have taken out of its intended context and instead use it when they're surprised or shocked.