‘Honeymoon’ has become such an acceptable term that we equate it with any phase that brings us bliss and comfort. Like: bro, let’s go to the bar and get honeymooned. Okay, we just made that up, but you get the drift, right?
Our minds also often tread down that naughty path whenever we hear a couple going on their ‘honeymoon’, once they’ve tied the knot. There are honeymoon destinations, honeymoon suites, honeymoon packages and what not, to make sure that the newly-wed couple have the best start to their marriage!
But even the term ‘honeymoon’ comes with a certain amount of history. People didn’t just pull it out the blue. It had meaning and came with different responsibilities. It was much more than just sex on the first night, away from the prying eyes of relatives.
We were quite surprised when we found out what the word honeymoon meant and what duties came along with it. Ready to walk down the aisle with us?
Country Living claims the tradition of honeymoons originated in Britain back in the 19th century.
While ‘honeymoons’ today have a positive connotation, it was nothing close to that, back then. It was a term that was mostly used to warn newlyweds about waning love. Remember, back in the day, marriages weren’t like they are now. Sometimes you were married off to people you’d never seen before.
Another theory suggests that newly-wed couples visited people who couldn’t make it to their wedding on their ‘honeymoon’…
Today, couples deliberately look for isolated spots to get away from people!
Theories also exist around the usage of the word itself. Some people say that the word came into use back in the 5th century where couples would consume ‘mead’, which was a kind of alcohol made using honey. Apparently, ‘mead’ was responsible for a few naughty nights and also helped with conception.
‘Honeymoon’ comes from the Nordic word “hjunottsmanathr”, meaning the bride would be kidnapped by her groom, who would hide his soon-to-be wife until her family stopped searching for her. Now, that is goddamned scary!
Then, ‘honeymoon’ was pronounced as ‘hony mones’ wherein ‘hony’ stood for an indefinite period of tenderness and pleasure experienced by a newly-wed couple and ‘mone’ meant the fleeting amount of time that sweetness would last.
Authors Richard Huloet and Samuel Johnson have opined in 1552 that ‘hony mone’ is a period where newly-wed would start falling out of love with each other! Yikes!
But, thank the gods we are no longer living in the 19th century. We really don’t want to be kidnapped by our prospective grooms. That’s not good for our wedding attire. Nope, not one bit!
