Making Merry

Eat, drink, and... well, you know

Saturdays are perfect days for festive surprises. Surprise—we’re talking about the curious origin of the word merry today!

During the time of year in which people around the world are obsessed with merriment, the word merry itself deserves a bit of scrutiny:

merry (adj) - cheerful, festive, or lighthearted; brisk or lively
—merriment is joyful gaiety or fun

mirth (noun) - amusement, humor, or happiness

So merry really does mean what most of us thought, but this wasn’t always the case. We can trace its origins through Middle English to the Old English myrige meaning pleasing or delightful. Going further back, though, to Proto-Germanic murguz to Latin to early Greek, we arrive at a consistent definition of short or slow. How do we get to the modern definition of merry from there?

The great poet Robert Frost observed that “happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” Basically, time flies when you’re having fun, which is why we wish others holidays soo festive that they end in a flash!

Interestingly, the word merry and its derivatives derive from the same origin as the root BREV- meaning short (e.g. brevity) and BRAC- meaning arm (e.g. embrace).

May your days be merry and bright!

“Honest good humor is the oil and wine of a merry meeting, and there is no jovial companionship equal to that where the jokes are rather small and laughter abundant.” --Washington Irving