'Tis a spooky night, this Halloween! Or as it is sometimes written, Hallowe'en.You can investigate the meanings and ancient rituals behind the holiday elsewhere (a fascinating subject), but this is where we discuss words, and the word "Halloween" is a combination of archaic terms. Allhallowmas is an old term for All Saint's Day, which is the first of November. "Even" is an archaic word for evening, and in this case is contracted to "e'en." Put them all together and you get (All)hallow(mas)e'en, the evening before All Saint's Day...and I hope it was a fun one for you all!
8 comments:
Thanks for the history of the word Halloween. FASCINATING.
:D
MJ
What I am hearing lately, maybe it is my ears, people are pronouncing this day....Holloween,instead of Halloween. What is the correct pronunciation? I am talking about radio announcers....
Claudia
Claudia, I think it just depends on what part of the country they're from. Around here (northern Indiana), it's probably more like "Holloween." I rarely hear it in our area with a short A (like the word "gallows"). Maybe that's more of an East coast thing...? Does anyone else have input on how it's pronounced in your neck of the woods?
Beth
Very interesting post Beth. I have heard it pronounced both ways, and I am from Kentucky. I think however your family pronounced it when you were young is probably how you pronounce it as an adult.
my kids had fun and of course..lots of candies, we won't be buying until next year [exaggerating here..]
Nice Pumpkin.
:-)
I had forgotten some of the history behind the word. Very interesting!
Dirk
http://tsalagiman2.blogspot.com/
Just stopping by to see what's been going on over here :-)
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