Everyday LifeGreek → English
Hilary
/ˈhɪləri/noun
A given name, historically male and now mostly female.
The Greek roots
ἱλαρός
hilarós
cheerful, glad
Literally: “cheerful”
Follow a root:ἱλαρός1 word
The story of the word
ἱλαρός is the adjective Paul uses when he says God loves a cheerful giver, ἱλαρὸν δότην. Latin took it as hilaris, which is also where hilarious comes from, and Hilary of Poitiers put it in the church calendar in the fourth century; the Hilary term at Oxford and the Hilary sittings of the English courts still start near his mid-January feast. The name was given almost exclusively to men until the twentieth century turned it over.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
Same family
hilarioushilarityexhilarate
In a sentence
Hilary term runs from January to March.
Her father was named Hilary, which confuses every form she fills in.