Veterans? Remembrance? Armistice?
What we Americans now call Veteran's
Day & our friends across the pond call Remembrance Day, was initially
called Armistice Day.
Armistice Day was declared when the
"War to End War" finally came to an end (at 11 AM, November 11,
1918).
The word armistice entered English in its
Latin form, armistitium in the 17th century, taking a few decades to become
Anglicized into armistice by 1707. The initial bit, arm- referred directly to
arms (as in taking up arms), while
the latter part, -stice, meant a stopping
or cessation. By the time the WWI Armistice was signed, the concept of
brevity had been added to the definition, a
brief cessation in hostilities. I find it sadly intriguing that we ended
the War to End Wars by stopping our hostilities briefly. The national
holiday in America was declared in 1938.
After World War II, Remembrance Day was
established in Britain, coinciding with the Yank's Armistice Day. The word remembrance
showed up in English in the 12th century, coming through French from the
Latin word rememorari, to recall to
mind, to remember, to be mindful of.
By 1954, Americans renamed Armistice
Day Veterans'
Day, to include all those who fought after we ended war earlier in the
century. The word veteran appeared in English in the 16th century, through
French, & Latin. It meant old.
Though the Latin word veteranus applied to anything or
anybody with “much life experience,” the term settled over time on experienced
soldiers.
Here's a tidbit of the 1938 Congressional
resolution: “Whereas it
is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated
with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through
good will and mutual understanding between nations…”
May November 11th find us all perpetuating
peace through good will and mutual understanding.
I welcome any
thoughts or comments on all this.
My thanks go out to this week’s
sources, Etymoniline.com, The OED & Department of Veterans’
Affairs.
It seems that whereas Armistice Day was intended to honor the stoppage of war our Veterans Day is meant more to honor the honor of war. Since I have a hard time seeing the honor of war I wish we could return to the original purpose of the day and honor the end to all wars. "Old" regarding veterans...not really. "Much life experience"...maybe a bit too much experience.
ReplyDeleteHi Christine,
ReplyDeleteI'm with you 100% on the idea of celebrating the cessation of war. I wonder how one could go about promoting that idea without having unpatriotic slings & arrows slung at him.