Wednesday, December 26, 2012

tidings

tidings \TAHY-dingz\, noun:

News, information, or intelligence: sad tidings.

There were voices which came from the mountains, with tidings from far away and sweet breathings of the spirit.
-- Arthur Edward Waite, Quest of the Golden Stairs
"How would my heart have leapt at that sound but yesterday!" thought she, remembering the anxiety with which she had long awaited tidings from her husband.
-- Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Wives of the Dead," The Oxford Book of American Short Stories

Tidings is most used in the phrase "glad tidings," but it was a word on its own before it entered Christmas lore. The word came from the Old Norse word tīthindi meaning "news." It is related to the common word "tide."

No comments: