What is the origin of the word "Honeymoon"?

Question

I mean why do we call it Honeymoon? Mabe something to with the moon + honey + newlyweds! ;-)

Answer 1

Historically, the groom's father would provide the first month's ("moon") worth of mead- an ale made from honey.

Hence, Honey moon.

Answer 2

The origin of the word honeymoon
The Oxford English Dictionary offers no etymology at all, but dates the word back to the 16th century:

The first month after marriage, when there is nothing but tenderness and pleasure" (Samuel Johnson); originally having no reference to the period of a month, but comparing the mutual affection of newly-married persons to the changing moon which is no sooner full than it begins to wane; now, usually, the holiday spent together by a newly-married couple, before settling down at home
One of the oldest citations in the OED indicates that, while today honeymoon has a positive meaning, the word was actually a sardonic reference to the inevitable waning of love like a phase of the moon. This, the first literary reference to the honeymoon was penned in 1552, in Richard Huloet's Abecedarium Anglico Latinum. Huleot writes:

Hony mone, a terme proverbially applied to such as be newe maried, whiche wyll not fall out at the fyrste, but thone loveth the other at the beginnynge excedyngly, the likelyhode of theyr exceadynge love appearing to aswage, ye which time the vulgar people cal the hony mone

("Honeymoon, a term proverbially applied to the newly-married, who will not fall out (quarrel) at first, but they love the other at the beginning exceedingly, the likelihood of their exceeding love appearing to assuage [any quarrels]; this time is commonly called the honeymoon").

It has also been said that the origin of the word is based upon the practise of newlyweds drinking mead (a honey-based drink) during the first month (and therefore "moon") of marriage. Weddings once commonly took place upon the Summer solstice and it was at this time of year that honey was first harvested. The drink supposedly increased virility and fertility. Thus the first month of marriage became a honeymoon.

Answer 3

[Perhaps from a comparison of the moon, which wanes as soon as it is full, to the affections of a newly married couple, which are most tender right after marriage.]

Q] From Anita Finley: “Can you tell me the origin of honeymoon?”

[A] Those of you with romantic constitutions had better look away now. There are many invented stories about the origin of this word, mostly so sickly that I cringe at repeating them. There is, for example, the suggestion that at some time in some place there was a custom for newlyweds to drink a potion containing honey every day for the first month after the nuptials. But the word only turns up in English in the middle of the sixteenth century. Let me quote you a passage from Richard Huloet’s Abecedarium Anglico Latinum of 1552 (in modernised spelling): “Honeymoon, a term proverbially applied to such as be new married, which will not fall out at the first, but the one loveth 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”. Putting it simply, it was that charmed period when married love was at first as sweet as honey, but which waned like the moon and in roughly the same period of time. Cynical, I know, but that’s etymology!

Answer 4

The word honeymoon has its roots in the Norse word "hjunottsmanathr" which was anything but blissful. Northern European history describes the abduction of a bride from neighboring village. It was imperative, that the abductor, the husband to be, take his bride to be into hiding for period of time. His friends assured his and her safe keeping and kept their whereabouts unknown. Once the bride's family gave up their search, the bride groom returned to his people. This folkloric explanation presumably is the origin of today's honeymoon, for its original meaning meant hiding.

Answer 5

Honeymoon Etymology

Answer 6

In the old days people wanted their marriage to start on a sweet note. It was therefore customary for newlyweds to drink mead for a month. Mead was a drink made from honey. The "moon" refers to the period of thirty days or one month that the couple was expected to drink the mead. After the first month, the couples came face to face with reality; they realised that their affection, like the moon, would wax and wane.

*******

Today, the tradition of a honeymoon following nuptials has, long way from its original meaning. Today's "happy ending" to the wedding event is a far cry from its much different beginnings. The word honeymoon has its roots in the Norse word "hjunottsmanathr" which was anything but blissful. Northern European history describes the abduction of a bride from neighboring village. It was imperative, that the abductor, the husband to be, take his bride to be into hiding for period of time. His friends assured his and her safe keeping and kept their whereabouts unknown. Once the bride's family gave up their search, the bride groom returned to his people. This folkloric explanation presumably is the origin of today's honeymoon, for its original meaning meant hiding.

The Scandinavian word for honeymoon is derived, in part, from an ancient Northern European custom in which newlyweds, for the first month of their married life, drank a daily cup of honeyed wine called mead. The ancient practices of kidnaping of bride and drinking the honeyed wine date back to the history of Atilla, king of the Asiatic Huns from A.D. 433 to A.D. 453.

So that leaves us with the question of where the "moon" in the word "honeymoon" originates. One piece of folklore relates that the origin of the word moon comes from a cynical inference. To the Northern Europeans the terms referred to the body's monthly cycle and, its combination with honey, suggested that not all moon's of married life were as sweet as the first. British prose writers and poets, in the 16th and 17th centuries, often made use of the Nordic interpretation of honeymoon as a waxing and waning of marital affection.

Certainly we have, long way and there is a vast difference between the original meaning of honeymoon and its present-day connotation. The newer version is, of course, the more pleasant one!

Answer 7

Main Entry: hon£ey£moon
Pronunciation: ‚h„-n‡-ƒmün
Function: noun
Etymology: from the idea that the first month of marriage is the sweetest
Date: 1546


1 : a period of harmony immediately following marriage
2 : a period of unusual harmony especially following the establishment of a new relationship
3 : a trip or vacation taken by a newly married couple
–honeymoon intransitive verb
–hon£ey£moon£er noun

Answer 8

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RE:
What is the origin of the word "Honeymoon"?
I mean why do we call it Honeymoon? Mabe something to with the moon + honey + newlyweds! ;-)

Answer 9

Babylon - In order to increase the virility and fertility of the newlyweds, the father of the bride would provide his son in law with all the mead (a honey-based drink) he could drink during the first month of the marriage (and therefore "moon").

Answer 10

I believe it comes from Meade or honey wine. Meade is the drink of love and honeymooners would drink it the whole time they were . . .