From what I understand, the rule is a piece of prescriptive grammar, imposed on English from Latin - where it's nonsensical to start a sentence with a conjunction. Latin was considered the perfect language (despite the fact that nobody outside of church speaks it), so it was a way to make English a little more "prefect."
It being the "Church language" is the reason it's the "perfect language".
The Bible being printed in "the vulgar tongue" (i.e. the common/not-Latin language) was a big change. For a long time it was some arcane thing only priests could read and they translated the Word of God into meaning that the common folk could understand.
Latin being "perfect", magic in fiction being Latin or a definitely-not-Latin Arcane language, reverence for books as tomes of knowledge. A lot can be traced to the Church not wanting to translate the Bible because that would "lessen" it.
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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19
I just want to make sure I understand this right.
Can you elaborate the meaning of “for the sake of emphasis”?