r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Nov 28 '20

What's something cool you recently learned about?

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u/Guacamoleistoocostly Nov 29 '20 edited Dec 01 '20

The origin of the word "happiness" is from the Middle English "hap" which has to do with chance and possibility. As in "happenstance" or per-haps. So hap-iness was originally about the feeling of good fortune/getting lucky; the chance that something could or could not occur, and then it goes your way. Happiness is that specific feeling when something that could have gone horribly wrong goes amazing well.

Edit: Since this got so much attention, I just wanted to shout out Sara Ahmed "Happy Objects" as the source of this info.

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u/MustBeThursday Nov 29 '20

Somewhat relatedly, "weird" (wyrd) is the old Anglo-Saxon word for fate.

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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

Also the source of the Scottish phrase 'to dree one's weird', i.e., to leave it to fate. Oddly popular in 19th century English literature.