General Question

Cardinal's avatar

Honeymoon?

Asked by Cardinal (2931points) July 5th, 2008

Where does this word come from and what did it mean originally. What does the word have to do with getting married and going away for a week or so?

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2 Answers

babygalll's avatar

You can read it here.

The term ‘honeymoon’ first originated in Babylon, about 4,000 years ago. Honeymoon came into use for the month after a wedding, when the bride’s father would give the groom all the mead he wanted. Mead is actually a honey beer, and being so, the Babylon’s calendar was a lunar calender, which is based off the moon. They then started to call that month, the ‘honey month’, which we now have adapted to be honeymoon.

marinelife's avatar

The origin of the term honeymoon is not as clearcut as you are indicating, babygalll. There is not agreement on a single explanation. That is one reason why I don’t like using the wiki as a primary source. It is only as good as the contributor. An equally valid explanation and word origin is the Norse one mentioned in many sources. Here is one simple recounting:

“The Norse word “hjunottsmanathr” is considered by some to be the origin of the word honeymoon. Hjunottsmanathr actually means “in hiding”. The Scandinavian grooms were some of the cultured blokes we spoke of earlier who abducted their brides from local villages, kept them in hiding until they were pregnant, or until the bride’s family ceased searching, and then presented themselves to the bride’s family as a fait accompli. This gives new meaning to the word “elope”, doesn’t it?”

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