Huzzah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Huzzah (originally huzza) is an archaic English expression of joy or approbation. According to the Oxford English Dictionary it is "apparently a mere exclamation" without any particular derivation. The OED notes, however, that in the 17th and 18th centuries it was identified as a sailor's cheer or salute, and thus was possibly related to words like heeze and hissa which are cognates of hoist.

"Huzzah" is also the exclamation used by the slapstick villain Punch as he outwits the Devil in the finale of the classic version of the Punch and Judy show, which dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries in England.

The word hurrah is a more modern form, also related to similar words in European languages. The OED states: "In English the form hurrah is literary and dignified; hooray is usual in popular acclamation."

Hooray comes from the Mongolian Hurree, used by mongol armies and spread throughout the world during the Mongol Empire of the 1200s. In Mongolian Hurree is a sacred praise much like amen or hellelujah.

• Weatherford, Jack (2004). Genghis Kahn and the Making of the Modern World. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-609-80964-4.

The term huzzah has been adopted, with no change in meaning, by modern gamers and those involved in the Renaissance Fair circuit both of which communities, admittedly, overlap. This was popularized by the comic strip Knights of the Dinner Table. Recently, the character Tobias from the television show Arrested Development used this expression.

U.S. Navy sailors belonging to aircraft carrier airwings have also recently adopted the term. In this context, it is used similarly as a cry of cheer or salutation, but with a tone of mocking of the similar "oorah" of U.S. Marines, "hooah" of U.S. Army, or "hooya" of U.S. Navy Special Forces and Search and Rescue Swimmers. It is called as a blatant jest toward those similar exclamations.

It is often associated with the cry of the British redcoats during the American Revolution.

Though it is often pronounced with a soft "a" sound at the end (huh-za), a piece entitled Essay on Man by Alexander Pope suggests that it may originally have been pronounced with an "ay" sound (as in weigh, neigh, or away):

   Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart.
   One self-approving hour whole years outweighs
   Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas;
   And more true joy Marcellus exil'd feels
   Than Cæsar with a senate at his heels.
   In parts superior what advantage lies?
   Tell (for you can) what is it to be wise?
   'T'is but to know how little can be known;
   To see all others' faults, and feel our own.

The word plays a part in the genesis of USS Constitution's famous nickname "Old Ironsides" in the War of 1812. During the warship's August 19, 1812, battle with HMS Guerriere (1806) off the coast of Nova Scotia, an unidentified Sailor exclaimed, "Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!", meaning that her live oak side planking had repelled shot seemingly as easily as iron armor plating.

A quote from "The Conversion of St. Wilfrid" in "Rewards and Fairies" by Rudyard Kipling:

But, sir,’ said Puck, most respectfully, ‘haven’t you left out what Meon said afterwards?’ Before the Bishop could speak he turned to the children and went on: ‘Meon called all his fishers and ploughmen and herdsmen into the hall and he said: “Listen, men! Two days ago I asked our Bishop whether it was fair for a man to desert his fathers’ Gods in a time of danger. Our Bishop said it was not fair. You needn’t shout like that, because you are all Christians now. My red war-boat’s crew will remember how near we all were to death when Padda fetched them over to the Bishop’s islet. You can tell your mates that even in that place, at that time, hanging on the wet, weedy edge of death, our Bishop, a Christian, counselled me, a heathen, to stand by my fathers’ Gods. I tell you now that a faith which takes care that every man shall keep faith, even though he may save his soul by breaking faith, is the faith for a man to believe in. So I believe in the Christian God, and in Wilfrid His Bishop, and in the Church that Wilfrid rules. You have been baptized once by the King’s orders. I shall not have you baptized again; but if I find any more old women being sent to Wotan, or any girls dancing on the sly before Balder, or any men talking about Thun or Lok or the rest, I will teach you with my own hands how to keep faith with the Christian God. Go out quietly; you’ll find a couple of beefs on the beach.” Then of course they shouted “Hurrah!” which meant “Thor help us!” and—I think you laughed, sir?’