為什麼祝人聖誕快樂和新年快樂英文要用Merry Christmas和Happy New Year呢？

Q:為什麼祝人聖誕快樂和新年快樂英文要用Merry Christmas和Happy New Year呢？點解唔係Happy Christmas同Merry New Year？

圖片參考：http://www.phrases.org.uk/images/christmas-card.jpg




Merry一詞是源自古英語myrige,其起初意思是解作愉快("pleasant") ,而不是興高采烈,歡欣(Joyous)之意

The first known usage of any Christmastime greeting, "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" (thus incorporating two greetings) was in an informal letter written by an English admiral in 1699. The same phrase appeared in the first Christmas card, produced in England in 1843.

(而現在我們常說的'Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year',最初是出自於1699年由英國上將所寄的一封信;而後亦出現於1843年世界第一張聖誕咭;估計因約定俗成的關係,到了現在我們仍然使用這句祝賀句子)

The use of 'Merry Christmas' as a seasonal salutation dates back to at least 1565, when it appeared in The Hereford Municipal Manuscript:"And thus I comytt you to god, who send you a mery Christmas & many."

(至於'Merry Christmas'一語 是於1565年時首次出現於英國赫裏福德市的一份手稿裡的send you a mery Christmas'一句)

1843 ,and it was around that time, in the early part of the reign of Queen Victoria, that Christmas as we now know it was largely invented. The word merry was then beginning to take on its current meaning of 'jovial, and outgoing' . Prior to that, in the times when other 'merry' phrases were coined, for example, make merry (circa 1300), Merry England (circa 1400) and the merry month of May (1560s), merry had a different meaning, i.e. 'pleasant, peaceful and agreeable'.

(這是說在1843年前,已出現了很多有關於merry的詞,如Merry England,merry month,但其詞所指的是安寧,愉快之意;至後來英王維多利亞時代,其意思轉變,始有'興高采烈,歡欣之意')

此語'Merry Christmas' 的普及,乃是由於 Charles Dickens的 Christmas Carol (狄更斯的《聖誕頌》):

"If I could work my will", says Scrooge, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding."

由於《聖誕頌》一書的膾炙人口,導致"Merry Christmas '' 一語亦愈來愈普及。


Q:Happy Christmas同Merry New Year?咁樣寫又得唔得呢？

A:其實用Happy Christmas都是有的,19世紀開始就用於英國及愛爾蘭一帶,至今仍有用。

為什麼有人要用Happy而不用Merry?
因為在英語中 "merry" 亦有微醉,渴醉之意;而伊利莎白二世亦曾因為這個字的意思,不想國民是在聖誕節中渴醉,而指出應用"Happy Christmas" 而不用 "merry" ;但美國方面卻原本有用Happy Christmas,後來卻反而多轉用Merry Christmas了;詳細可考下文:

The alternative "Happy Christmas" gained wide usage in the late 19th century, and is still common in the United Kingdom and Ireland . One reason may be the alternative meaning, still current there, of "merry" as "tipsy" or "drunk". Queen Elizabeth II is said to prefer "Happy Christmas" for this reason. In American poet Clement Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (1823), the final line, originally written as "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night", has been changed in many editions to "Merry Christmas to all", perhaps indicating the relative popularity of the phrases in the United States.

至於Happy New Year,除了是因為有歷史沿用外,亦因為約定俗成的以'Happy...'來祝福別人(除了Christmas),例如'Happy holidays', 'Happy Easter'等;故此不見得有Merry New Year一詞出現於典籍中,因而未有人用,雖然在文法上以Merry 之欣喜來表達New Year之快樂,是沒有文法錯誤的.

參考資料:
http://www.phrases.o rg.uk/
網友》偉《之資料
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_holiday_greetings

because in England people thing Christmas is a improntant day, it is Jesus birthday and his mother called merry so in english it said Merry Christmas.