I’ve shared the etymology of holiday before, back in 2011, but I figured ten years is enough time that I can revisit. 😉

I always find this one kind of funny…at least when people object to people saying “Happy Holidays!” instead of “Merry Christmas.” My opinion has always been that the joke is on anyone who thinks they’re avoiding the “religious” aspect of anything by using the word, given that it is quite literally just an elision of holy and day.

Yep. Pretty easy etymology on this one!

Holiday is an old word, dating from the 1300s, to mean “a holy day, consecrated day, religious anniversary.” Of course, a holy day meant a day when you were excused from your labors, so that sense of “a day without work” soon joined the idea as well.

Interestingly, in the mid 1800s, people in England would say “Happy Holidays” during the summer, in reference to school being out. It wasn’t until a 1930s Camel cigarette ad that anyone ever said “Happy Holidays” in reference to the Christmas season–who knew? (Though I maintin it makes sense when referring the season that encompasses Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Three holidays deserves the plural!)

Regardless, I pray you’re enjoying your holiday season and that you pause to reflect not just on the recreational aspect, but on the true meaning of the word — the holiness of the day we celebrate.

Decadent. I don’t know about you, but when I hear that word, I think of ooey-gooey chocolate … maybe caramel … something rich and satisfying and the highest heights of delightful.

Turns out, I’m a victim of a 1970s-and-onward advertising hijack of the word. Advertisers seized the word and began using it to describe desserts. The thing is … it doesn’t mean that at all.

What it actually means is “in a state of decline or decay (from a former condition of excellence).” It dates from the 1830s in English but is directly from a French word that means “decay.” Um … ew. Why are we using that for desserts??

Originally in English, the word was used to describe literary or artistic movements that were in a state of decline or past their heyday. Then it began to be used for pleasures that would only appeal to people of dubious morals or poor taste … and from there it just came to be associated with “pleasurable.”

Gotta love those words that have been totally flipped on their heads!

Last week I took a look at the etymology of the word author (which you’d have thought I’d looked up long ago, right??), and I mentioned its interesting connection to the word authority…which is, of course, what we’re looking at today!

To be honest, I assumed that author came first, and that authority is a form that came afterward. And if you’re tracing it back to Latin, that’s the case. However, in English, authority actually entered the language at least 100 years, possibly as many as 150, before author did!

When it entered English, it was with the meaning of “authoritative passage or statement, book or quotation that settles an argument, passage from Scripture.” By around 1300, it meant “legal validity,” or else a trustworthy text or doctrine (as opposed to experience). It wasn’t until the mid-14th century that it took on the meaning of “right to rule or command, power to enforce obedience, power or right to command or act.” And then by around 1400, we get the meaning of “officially sanctioned.” Interestingly, it wasn’t until the early 1600s that people began using authority to simply mean “the person in authority” and not until the mid 1800s did it come to mean “the police.” I had no idea that last one was so new!

I can’t believe I’ve never looked this one up before, but…clearly I hadn’t, LOL. Because I was completely surprised to learn that author did not originally mean “writer.” Did you know that??

Author has been in use in English since the mid-1300s, taken from the Latin auctor (via French), which means “promoter, producer, father, progenitor; builder, founder; trustworthy writer, authority; historian; performer, doer; responsible person, teacher.” Literally, “one who causes to grow.” So originally, author was used for any creator!

However, it didn’t take long for it to take on special meaning for those who write. By the end of the 1300s, it was being used to differentiate one who created a written work from people who transcribed, translated, or compiled it.

Even more interesting is how it relates to the word authority…which we’ll look at next week. 😉

Anyone else like to watch Forged in Fire? If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s a competition show where smiths are forging knives. So fascinating! Watching that show has taught me that one of the most important things for steel is that it’s well tempered.

Yeah…important for people too, we just don’t do it through heat-treating!

But have you ever wondered how the same word has come to be applied to both our temperaments and things like steel?

Temper, the noun, comes from temper, the verb, which has traveled through the various forms of English from the Latin temperare, which means observe proper measure, be moderate, restrain oneself; mix correctly, mix in due proportion; regulate, rule, govern, manage.” So whether you’re doing it to yourself or to something else, the idea is that you’re reaching the correct measure or balance.

If you look at the root, you’ll notice it also looks a lot like tempus (time), which is no coincidence either. Etymologists aren’t exactly certain when tempus shifted from its root “stretch” to the time-sense of “measure,” but it’s definitely a change that happened back in the Latin days and has traveled forward into English for us.

It gained the meaning of “disposition” around 1590 in English, and by 1600 was specifically used for “calm state of mind” (a good temper). It wasn’t until 1828 that it’s recorded as being used for “bad temper.” That one surprised me, since it’s the primary usage today!