Let's Party!

Let's party! If you've ever been curious about the origin of words such as "carnival," "levee," "festival" and "shindig," you're invited to join the fun.

"Carnival" originally referred to the season of merrymaking just before Lent, the 40-day period when Christians weren't allowed to eat meat. Because "carnival" heralded the period when the flesh was "taken away," its name was derived from the Latin "caro" (flesh) and "levare" (to take away), creating "carnelevare" in Old Italian, "carnivale" in Italian and "carnival" in English.

Another meaning of the Latin verb "levare" was "to raise." So when the French needed a word for a reception held by a king or nobleman who had just arisen from bed, they called it a "levee." (Funny, but the reception I get upon arising from bed is usually, "Dad, what's for breakfast?") In English, "levee" eventually came to mean any formal reception.

"Festivus," the family holiday celebrated by Frank Costanza's father on "Seinfeld," was indeed a Roman feast. It gave rise to the English word "festival," as well as "festive" and "festivity." "Festivus" itself derives from the Latin "festum" (feast), which is also the root of "feast," "fete," "fest" and "festoon."

You might think "shindig," meaning a large, festive party, has something to do with people kicking each other in the shins as they dance. In fact, it's derived from "shinny," a 17th-century British word for a game resembling field hockey. "Shinny" may come from a shout used in the game ("Shin ye!") or from the Gaelic "sinteag," meaning "a skip, jump."

If you're late for a soiree (pronounced "swah-RAY"), that's entirely appropriate, at least etymologically speaking. For "soiree" derives from the Latin word for "late" -- "serus." "Serus" became "soir" (evening) in French as well as "soiree," an evening party or reception.

An old word for party is "revel," often used in the plural (e.g. "Let the revels begin!") You might think "revel" comes from "reveal" or "revelation"; after all, you often do find out what people are really like at such an event. In fact, "revel" derives from the Latin "rebellare" (to rebel), which makes sense, too.

"Party" itself comes from the Latin "pars" (part). The idea is that a group of reveling people is a distinct part of a larger group. Interestingly, "party" didn't appear as a verb in English until 1919 -- just in time for the Roaring Twenties.

Rob Kyff