honeymoon

英文词源

honeymoon

honeymoon: [16] The word honeymoon first appeared in print in the middle of the 16th century. Richard Huloet in his Abecedarium Anglico Latinum 1552 defined it as ‘a term proverbially applied to such as be new married, which will not fall out at the first, but the one loueth the other at the beginning exceedingly, the likelihood of their exceeding love appearing to assuage, the which time the vulgar people call the honey moon’. His description suggests not only that the term had already been around for some time by the 1550s, but also that it was probably inspired by the notion that although married love was at first as sweet as honey, it soon waned like the moon.

honeymoon (n.)

1540s, hony moone, but probably much older, "indefinite period of tenderness and pleasure experienced by a newly wed couple," from honey (n.) in reference to the new marriage's sweetness, and moon (n.) in reference to how long it would probably last, or from the changing aspect of the moon: no sooner full than it begins to wane. French has cognate lune de miel, but German version is flitterwochen (plural), from flitter "tinsel" + wochen "week." In figurative use from 1570s. Specific sense of "post-wedding holiday" attested from c. 1800; as a verb in this sense from 1821. Related: Honeymooned; honeymooning.