Hogmanay

Hogmanay is a Scottish haliday that faws on 31 December, the hindermaist day o the year. The nicht o Hogmanay stairts the lang celebration o the new year o the Gregorian calender, wi twa baunk halidays follaein, for ordinar on 1 an 2 Januar.

The oreegins o Hogmanay ar unclear but it micht derive frae Gaelic an Norse observances. Customs vary athort Scotland, an fur usual include gift exchangin an peyin visits tae friends an faimily, wi speicial attention bein gien tae the first-fitter, the first body throu the door in the New Year.

 Etymology 
The oreegin o the wird is obscure. The aerliest proponed etymology wis in 1693 in the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence that the wird is a corruption o the Greek  (), or "haly month". The three main modren theories pit it forrit as bein aither a French, Gaelic or Norse ruit.

The wird is first recordit in a Latin entry in 1443 in the Wast Ridin o Yorkshire as ."hogmanay, n.". OED Online. December 2014. Oxford University Press. (accessed 22 December 2014). The first kythin in Inglis came in 1604 in the records o Elgin, as hagmonay."delatit to haue been singand hagmonayis on Satirday" Forder 17t-yearhunner spellins include Hagmena (1677), Hogmynae night (1681), an Hagmane (1693) in an entry o the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence.

Awtho Hogmanay is the dominant spellin an pronoonciation, mony variations o the name hae been recordit, includin:Robinson, Mairi (ed) The Concise Scots Dictionary (1985) The Scottish National Dictionary Association 

 Hoghmanay
 Hagman(a)e
 Hagmonay
 Hagmonick
 Hanginay (Roxburghshire)
 Hangmanay
 Hogernoany (Shetland)
 Hogminay/Hogmenay/Hogmynae
 Hoguemennay
 Huggeranohni (Shetland)
 Hu(i)gmanay

wi the first syllable various being , , ,  or .

 French etymology 
It micht hae come intae Middle Scots frae French. The maist common citit ensaumple is that it comes frae the northren French byleidal wird , or variants sic as ,  an , thon wirds comin frae the 16t yearhunner Middle French  meanin aither a gift gien at New Year, a bairn's cry for sic a gift, or New Year's Eve itsel.Campbell, John Gregorson (1900, 1902, 2005) The Gaelic Otherworld. Edited by Ronald Black. Edinburgh, Birlinn Ltd.  p. 575: "'Hogmanay' is French in origin. In northern French dialect it was , going back to Middle French , meaning a gift given on New Year's eve or the word cried out in soliciting it."

'Auld Lang Syne'
The Hogmanay prattick o singin 'Auld Lang Syne' haes become common in mony kintras. 'Auld Lang Syne' is a tradeetional poem reinterpretit by Robert Burns, that wis syne pitten tae muisic. It is nou common for this tae be sung in a circle o cleekit airms that's crosst ower ane anither as the knock chaps midnicht for Ne'er's Day, awtho in Scotland the tradeetional practice is tae cross airms anerly for the last verse.Queen stays at arm's length, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 5 Januar 2000.

References


Category:Halidays
Category:Events in Scotland
Category:December observances