Chrysti the Wordsmith > Radio Scripts

Honeymoon is a sweet-sounding word for a lover's escapade. How did this charming term come to inhabit our vocabulary?

One folkloric explanation arises from Northern Europe where it is said newlyweds shared a cup of mead, or wine mixed with honey, something they would do daily for the first month or "moon" following the marriage.

This luscious etymology, alas, is unreliable. The word honeymoon most likely comes from a cynic's-eye view of married love.

The first citation of the word honeymoon appeared in a 1552 glossary, printed in England, called Abcedarium Anglico Latinum, which reads, "A term...applied to such as be new married,...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."

This early citation, and all subsequent ones, suggest marital love can be compared to the phases of the moon. When love is new, it is full and honey-sweet. But as married life progresses, love dims like lunar waning.

The custom of the honeymoon trip arose in early in the 19th century, and soon thereafter the verb form "to honeymoon" appeared in the English vocabulary.

Radio Script > Honeymoon