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Origin and history of joyous

joyous(adj.)

c. 1300, from Anglo-French joyous, Old French joios "happy, cheerful, merry, glad" (12c., Modern French joyeux), from joie (see joy). Related: Joyously; joyousness.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to joyous

joy(n.)

c. 1200, "feeling of pleasure and delight;" c. 1300, "source of pleasure or happiness," from Old French joie "pleasure, delight, erotic pleasure, bliss, joyfulness" (11c.), from Latin gaudia "expressions of pleasure; sensual delight," plural of gaudium "joy, inward joy, gladness, delight; source of pleasure or delight," from gaudere "rejoice," from PIE root *gau- "to rejoice" (cognates: Greek gaio "I rejoice," Middle Irish guaire "noble").

As a term of endearment from 1580s. Joy-riding is American English, 1908; joy-ride (n.) is from 1909.

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    Trends of joyous

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    festive
    1650s, "pertaining to a feast," from Latin festivus "festive, joyous, gay," from festum "festival, holiday," noun use of...Meaning "mirthful, joyous" in English is attested by 1774. Related: Festively; festiveness....Earlier adjectives in English based on the Latin word were festival "pertaining to a church feast" (late 14c.); festful "joyous...
    lustful
    Old English had lustbære "desirable, pleasant, cheerful, joyous."...
    exuberant
    From 1510s as "growing luxuriantly;" figurative use, of affections, joyous emotions, etc., is by 1640s....
    glint
    gletta "to look," dialectal Swedish glinta "to shine"), from the group of Germanic *gl- words meaning "smooth; shining; joyous...
    Spencerian
    It had an assured but joyous elegance lacking in the later Palmer letters....
    frolic
    "joyous, merry, full of mirth" (1530s), from Middle Dutch vrolyc "happy," a compound of vro- "merry, glad" + lyc "like" (...
    glad
    Old English glæd "bright, shining, gleaming; joyous; pleasant, gracious" (also as a noun, "joy, gladness"), from Proto-Germanic...
    fleece
    "wool coat of a sheep," Old English fleos, flies "fleece, wool, fur, sealskin," from West Germanic *flusaz (source also of Middle Dutch vluus, Dutch vlies, Middle High German vlius, German Vlies), which is of uncertain origin; probably from PIE *pleus- "to pluck," also "a feather
    consume
    late 14c., "to destroy by separating into parts which cannot be reunited, as by burning or eating," hence "destroy the substance of, annihilate," from Old French consumer "to consume" (12c.) and directly from Latin consumere "to use up, eat, waste," from assimilated form of com-,
    meme
    "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture," 1976, introduced by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in "The Selfish Gene," coined by him from Greek sources, such as mimeisthai "to imitate" (see mime (n.)), and intended to echo gene. We n

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