So…how have I never actually done thanksgiving as a Word of the Week??? I’ve looked into the history of the holiday, but not actually the word. An oversight we shall rectify. 😉

The word thanksgiving as “the act of giving thanks” dates to 1530, with what I hope is a very obvious combination of root words, LOL. Before that, people were obviously still doing that act, but it wasn’t yet one word. Texts from the 1300s talk about giving thanks or even doinge of thankes.

In 1630, there was even introduced a back-formation of the noun, the verb thanksgive. (I don’t think that one stuck around for long, LOL.) Before that? Ahem. Thanking. Yeah, that one we still use, LOL.

Now, in that century when the word came into use but wasn’t yet the “holiday” sense that we know today, it simply meant the literal “give thanks.” But in 1630, the famous dinner at Plymouth gave rise to a new, specific sense: “to publicly give thanks to God for His favors with a celebration.” And by 1670, we had the notion of Thanksgiving Day.

Do you (to my US readers) have big Thanksgiving plans?

Word Nerds Merch!

We are still in the “Thanksgiving” theme over here. And any Catholics among us (or Greek/Latin scholars, or church historians or theologians) will take one look at this Word of the Week and say, “Well, duh, of course you are.”

Simply–eucharist literally means “thanksgiving.” But we aren’t just going to leave it with the SIMPLE answer, of course. Where’s the fun in that?

The word is straight from the Greek (via Latin and then French and finally English) from eu, which means “well” and then the stem of kharizesthai, which means “to show favor.” That big long verb comes from the noun kharis, meaning “favor, grace” in Greek. In biblical Greek, eukharisteo is the word used any time in the New Testament where they talk about giving thanks to God for His blessings.

And as Christians, what is the thing we are MOST thankful for? That’s easy, right? Jesus’ sacrifice. And what did He give us to remember that sacrifice, to partake of it with Him? There are many names for it these days. Holy Communion. The Lord’s Supper. But the earliest name was simply “the eucharist.” We participate in the Thanksgiving. (Which is what my fantasy-future characters in Awakened call it–just “the Thanksgiving.”)

The word eucharist has been used in English since it was brought here by the French around 1400 and was used strictly for the Lord’s Supper. Before the French brought that word, this sacrament was called “the housel,” from the Gothic hunsl, meaning “sacrifice.” We see examples of that in literature like Canterbury Tales, which predates the French influence.

As we focus on gratitude in this month of Thanksgiving, I hope we all remember that the ultimate blessing is the one we partake of in that eucharist. When next you taste the bread or fruit of the vine, let that meaning soak through you: thank you, Lord. You gave yourself, and I give you thanks.

Word Nerds Merch!

Ever wonder what the deal is with the tradition of pulling apart the turkey’s wishbone? As we enter Thanksgiving month here in the US, I thought it would be fun to look into some of our history for this holiday that you might not already know.

First, the word itself. Wishbone as a word only dates to 1860, but before that, it was wishing-bone, and also called the merrythought. Both names have the same idea behind them–that whoever gets the longer end in that tug-of-war game gets to make a wish or have a merry thought. The tradition, with a fowl’s furcula bone, dates back to the 1600s in England and traveled with colonies to the New World. 

But…why?

Well, that gets interesting. And also, ahem, a little spicy. 😉 Brace yourself. So, according to Roman legends, this ritual actually dates back to the Etruscans, who were the precursors to the Romans in Italy. Like many ancient societies, they practiced divination and reading omens, often using the entrails or other bits and pieces of animals, quite frequently birds. This bone in birds was favored specifically because its shape resembles legs and, ahem, the groin area. Which means it represented fertility, prosperity, the very place from which life springs.

This resemblance is also quite possibly why it earned that merrythought name in English. (Sorry, friends, our ancestors don’t much care if they make us blush, LOL.) Through much of English history, two unwed people would play the game with the bone, to see who would marry next. Or if that wasn’t their wish, then they’d make another instead. Hence the names.

Did you ever pull apart the wishbone after the turkey’s carved?

Word Nerds Merch!