H to the Izzle

I'm on the Grammar Girl daily email list, which is usually a snooze fest, and she finally emailed me about something I care about:

The Oxford English Dictionary doesn't commit to "hurray" being the origin of "yay" but does mention it as one possibility. I traced the dates of words that could be origins of "yay" and thought the results were interesting.

1450 Hissa
1682 Huzza
1716 Whurra
1773 Hurrea
1855 Hurray
1865 Hooroar
1888 Hooray
1963 Yay


Huzza is still circulating, but I want to make a plug for bringing back Whurra and Hooroar. They sound scary. I am going to shout them the next time I am drunk in a crowded public area. Just one step at a time.