<P> Star Trek actor and writer Simon Pegg giving a Vulcan salute in 2016 . </P> <P> The salute was created by Leonard Nimoy for the Star Trek episode "Amok Time", which was the first episode with Vulcans other than Spock . Nimoy wanted something to help develop the Vulcan sociology, proposed that Vulcans have a greeting and suggested this salute as that greeting . </P> <P> The accompanying spoken blessing, "live long and prosper"--"dif - tor heh smusma" in the Vulcan language (as spoken in Star Trek: The Motion Picture)--also appeared for the first time in "Amok Time", scripted by Theodore Sturgeon . The less - well - known reply is "peace and long life", though it is sometimes said first, with "live long and prosper" as the reply . The phrase has been seen abbreviated "LLAP". </P> <P> An ancient Egyptian blessing "ankh wedja seneb", while its verbatim translation is uncertain, uses the three symbols "life", "prosperity" and "health"; it has been translated as "may he live, be prosperous, be healthy ." The New International Version of the Bible, Deuteronomy 5: 33, includes the phrase "live and prosper" as part of Moses' admonitions to the Hebrew people prior to entering Canaan; other translations include the notion of long life as well . William Shakespeare's 1594 Romeo and Juliet contains the line, "Live and be prosperous: and farewell good fellow", spoken by Romeo to Balthasar, his friend and servant . The benediction "live and prosper" is attributed to the 18th - century organized crime figure Jonathan Wild in his 1725 biography written by "H.D.", possibly a pseudonym for Daniel Defoe . </P>

When did spock first say live long and prosper