Thanks or thanksgiving, began as the ancient Germanic word thengk, later thangk, which originally meant “thought” or “thoughtfulness.”
Eventually, it came to mean “good thoughts” and from there “thankfulness.” Think and thank thus started out as the same word.
Gratitude came from the Latin word gratus, which meant “pleasing” and expanded to mean “favor.” It is related to the words for thanks in such languages as Spanish (gracias) and Italian (grazie) and to “grace” in English.
Thus, out of “gratitude” for blessings or food received, we say “grace” before a meal.
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The Spanish took the Mexican fowl guajolotl to Spain, where it soon spread to other countries. The English thought it came from the country of Turkey and so named it. (In Mexican Spanish turkeys are called guajolotes, which is close to the original Náhuatl word.)
It had become a delicacy in England as early as 1535 and was no stranger to the English settlers in America.
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In medieval agrarian Europe, it was customary to give thanks for the ingathering of crops, especially when the harvests were bountiful. The same was true in Native American cultures.
The Spanish celebrated the first European thanksgiving in America in 1565 in St. Augustine in present-day Florida.
Among the permanent English settlements in what is now the United States, the Jamestown colony established in 1607 undoubtedly celebrated the first “thankgiving.” But credit for the American tradition of Thanksgiving went to the Plymouth Rock Colony, which celebrated its first thanksgiving in 1621.
However, Thanksgiving was a sporadic, off-and-on affair until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln declared it a national day of thanksgiving. And it has remained ever since, though the dates for it were not set by law until 1941.
Harold Raley is a linguist, professor and writer who lives in Friendswood.
