birdeen's call
VIP Member
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2010
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Polish
- Home Country
- Poland
- Current Location
- Poland
WARNING: This question is about an antiquated expression.
From Anectdotes of the English Language (1814), page 277:
From Anectdotes of the English Language (1814), page 277:
From the 1913 Webster's dictionary:Another matutinal expression in ancient use was—"Give you (i. e. God) good Day," implying a hope that the day might end as well as it had begun: but the most ancient and enlarged wish was Good Den; that is, Good Days; being a contraction of the Saxon Plural Day-en, a phrase which occurs several times in Shakspeare. This will account for what one sometimes ignorantly smiles at among the children in country places, where, in passing a stranger in a morning, they seem to accost him with, "Good E'en! Good E'en!" which is generally mistaken for an Evening wish, though it is in fact Good Den, a little softened in the pronunciation.
Who is right?[Corrupt. of good e'en, for good evening.]
A form of salutation. [Obs.] Shak.