‘On Language’ 12/14: The religious roots of ‘holiday’
`Happy Holidays’ also rooted in religious meaning
‘On Language‘
Chicago Tribune
December 14, 2005
By Nathan Bierma
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Ironically, while the White House, along with other government officials and retailers this year, opts to use the word “holiday” as its generic, non-religious alternative to “Christmas,” linguists point out that the word “holiday” itself has religious etymological roots. In fact, religious references are buried in the histories of many words we now use without thinking about their history.
While the religious roots of “Christmas” are transparent—the word began as a compound of “Christ’s mass”—it’s less obvious that the word “holiday” has the word “holy” in it, as in “holy-day.” It began in Old English as two words, “halig daeg” (“holy day”) that were combined into one as early as 1,000 years ago, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. A 13th Century rulebook for nuns, for example, instructs nuns to pray more often on “helidawes” (holy days) than on “werkedawes” (workdays).
“Holiday” gradually came to mean any special day set aside for leisure or celebration. A 16th Century poet, for instance, describes “holiday” as “a day to dance in and make merry at the Ale house.” Soon, the OED says, the generic meaning of “holiday” became the most common definition, and sacred references again had to be written as two words, “holy day.” Today, even non-religious days such as Presidents’ Day and Labor Day are “holidays,” and the British word for “vacation” is “holiday”—as in, “He’s on holiday this week.”
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