hurrah

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as an alteration from English of huzza,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} which it gradually replaced.^[5] Others derive it from German Hurra:^[8][9][10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls this possible and traces the German shout probably to Middle High German hurrā, formed from the imperative of hurren (“to move quickly”), of imitative origin, and an interjection.^[11] Skeat also took it from German,^[10] and Weekley thought it a cry picked up during the Thirty Years' War, originally German and perhaps from hurren.^[12] Etymonline mentions the Thirty Years' War as a possibility too.^[7] The Oxford Dictionary of English suggests it was perhaps first a sailors' cry when hauling.^[3][13] The form is parallel to Danish hurra, Swedish hurra and Dutch hoera,^[5][14][15] and Klein calls the word imitative.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A shout of hurrah, as a noun: 1686, in the form hurra,^[5][16][11] with hurray in 1694 and the spelling hurrah in 1841, in Macaulay's essays.^[5] As an interjection it is first found in 1716, as whurra in Addison's The Drummer.^[5][16]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline, quoting the OED, says that hurra was said to be the battle cry of Prussian soldiers in the War of Liberation (1812–13) and was afterwards a favourite cry of soldiers and sailors.^[7] From 1827 English also used it for the attacking shout of the Cossacks, and by extension for an attack.^[16] The verb, to shout hurrah, is from 1798, first as hurray,^[5][16][7] and the transitive verb, to cheer someone with hurrahs, from 1832.^[16] In American English a hurrah's nest was a state of confusion from 1829,^[16][7][2] and slang gave hurrah a boisterous party or ruckus (1834), and the verb the senses to raise a commotion (1872) and to tease or harass (1905).^[17][11] The noun also came to mean excitement or fanfare.^[11][18]

Timeline

• 1686 – noun, a shout of hurra.^[5][16][11]
• 1716 – interjection, as whurra.^[5][16]
• 1798 – verb, to shout hurray.^[5][16][7]
• 1827 – the Cossacks' shout of attack; an attack.^[16]
• 1829 – hurrah's nest, a state of confusion (US).^[16][7]
• 1832 – verb, transitive, to cheer someone with hurrahs.^[16]
• 1834 – US slang, a boisterous party or ruckus.^[17]

Meanings

Interjection

1. Used to express joy, approval, encouragement or victory: Hurrah, we won!^[11][18][8]

Noun

1. A shout of hurrah; a cheer.^[18][8][2]
2. Excitement or fanfare: The plan was launched with much hurrah.^[11][18]

Verb

1. To shout hurrah; to cheer someone or something in this way.^[11][18][8]
2. (US) To behave noisily; to tease or harass.^[11][17]

Word family

• last hurrah

Related words

• hooray
• huzza

Usage notes

Hurrah, hurray and hooray are forms of one shout;^[11][8][9] Etymonline calls hooray the popular form and almost as old,^[7] and the Shorter Oxford, which dates hooray to the late 17th century, takes it as an alteration of hurrah.^[2] In Australian and New Zealand English hooray also means goodbye.^[8][2]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
15. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
17. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
18. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin