Holiday = Holy Day
I am generally amused by some folks who seemingly refuse to say the greeting, 'Merry Christmas,' but would rather say, 'Happy Holidays,' in a cloaked attempt to avoid saying the word 'Christmas.' There's an interesting lesson of the etymology of the word 'holiday.'
The word 'holiday' was first recorded in English around the year 950, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, but it looked a lot different back then. The word is a noun that was earlier written as 'haliday' around the year 1200 and comes from Old English hāligdæg, which was a consecrated day, religious anniversary or Sabbath. The word breaks down like this: Hālig means 'holy' + dæg which means 'day.'
See that? Holiday is an amalgam of the two words, HOLY DAY (HOLY+DAY.) So, if those who truly want to avoid Jesus Christ and the fact that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, then perhaps they should start saying 'Seasons Greetings.'
"But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
~Joshua 24:15
As the Scripture says, 'but as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord' . . . we do and we say Merry Christmas!
