festivity

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English festivite,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French festivité,^[3][4][5][6] which the OED gives as Anglo-Norman and Middle French,^[7] and directly borrowed from Latin fēstīvitās.^[7][5][6] The source in Latin meant conviviality and, of speeches or speakers, liveliness and wit, and took on the meaning of a feast or sacred day in the Vulgate.^[7] It is formed from fēstīvus (“festive”) and the noun suffix -tās,^[7] and the adjective goes back to fēstum (“festival, holiday”),^[3][8][5] the neuter of fēstus (“of a feast”).^[3][8] Spellings of the English word in “feast-” were altered after feast.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A festive celebration, or specifically a religious feast: about 1410, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[7] Barnhart dates the word to before 1387, in Trevisa's translation of that work,^[3] Etymonline to the late 14th century,^[8] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 14th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term for an occasion, often a church one: the Middle English Dictionary records it for a church festival or holiday as well as a celebration or feast.^[2] By the end of the 15th century it also named the joyful celebrating itself, at first mostly the formal observance of a religious festival.^[7] From 1583 it also meant the quality of being festive, or gaiety.^[7] Johnson (1755) kept these apart, as a time of rejoicing and as joyfulness or behaviour fit for a feast.^[10] From 1542 to 1770 the word also carried over the Latin sense of a pleasant, light courtesy in speech or writing, now obsolete.^[7] The religious use has faded, and the occasion sense now appears mostly in the plural, for festive proceedings.^[7][6][11]

Timeline

• c. 1410 – a festive celebration; a religious feast.^[7]
• before 1500 – joyous celebration, at first the formal celebration of a religious festival, in Andrew of Wyntoun.^[7]
• 1542 – of language, pleasant and light-hearted courtesy, in Udall's translation of Erasmus (obsolete by 1770).^[7]
• 1583 – the quality of being festive; gaiety.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A joyful celebration or feast; a festival: The harvest festivity lasted three days.^[12][11][9]
2. The merriment or gaiety of a festival or party: The town square rang with festivity.^[12][11][9]
3. festivities: the proceedings or events of a celebration: The festivities ended with fireworks.^[12][11][7]

Related words

• festive
• festival
• feast
• fete
• fiesta

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt