honey

honey
   Used as a term of endearment since the fourteenth century, either alone or as a vocative element. In Shakespeare it is mainly used as the latter, in expressions like ‘honey nurse’, ‘sweet honey Greek’, ‘my good sweet honey lord’, but Othello addresses Desdemona as ‘honey’ on one occasion: ‘Honey, you shall be well desir’d in Cyprus.’ A moment later he calls her ‘my sweet’, which could be said to ‘translate’ the term (Othello, 2:i). In Villette, by Charlotte Brontë, a stewardess on a crosschannel ferry addresses a girl passenger as ‘honey’. Miss Brontë is at pains to point out that the stewardess is ‘vulgar’, and that she ‘Tad probably been a barmaid’. This seems to indicate that ‘honey’ was not used by polite society in the nineteenth century, though it was in common use in Miss Brontë’s part of the world then, as now, in the form ‘hinny’.
   At the end of the nineteenth century, when the Oxford English Dictionary first published its H section, the editors were of the opinion that ‘honey’ was ‘now mainly Irish’. If that was so, then it was Irish emigrants who took the expression to the USA, where it was to become firmly established, especially in the southern states. In Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell, we have Honey Wilkes, ‘so called because she indiscriminately addressed everyone from her father to the field-hands by that endearment’. Mark Twain, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has the term being used by Jim, the black slave, to Huck. In modern times ‘honey’ is thought by many English-speakers outside America to be an especially American term. In War Brides, by Lois Battle, an Australian woman is addressed by an American sailor as honey. ‘These Americans!’ she says. ‘They haven’t any respect.’ ‘Oh, they call everyone honey,’ explains a friend. ‘It’s just their way of being friendly.’

A dictionary of epithets and terms of address . . 2015.

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  • Honey — Honey, Honey «Honey, Honey» Сингл ABBA c альбома «Waterloo» Выпущен апрель 1974 Формат 7 Single Записан 17 октября 1973 Жанр поп/ …   Википедия

  • Honey — Hon ey (h[u^]n [y^]), n. [OE. honi, huni, AS. hunig; akin to OS. honeg, D. & G. honig, OHG. honag, honang, Icel. hunang, Sw. h[*a]ning, Dan. honning, cf. Gr. ko nis dust, Skr. ka[.n]a grain.] 1. A sweet viscid fluid, esp. that collected by bees… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Honey — steht für: Gary Honey (* 1959), australischer Leichtathlet Honey Bane (* 1964), britische Sängerin und Schauspielerin Honey Gordon (* 19**), US amerikanische Jazzsängerin Honey Twins, deutsches Gesangstrio Bal – Honig (englischsprachiger… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • HONEY — (Heb. דְּבָשׁ). The principal honey of Israel seems to have been a thick syrup made from either grapes or dates, called dibs in Arabic. It is often mentioned in lists of foodstuffs of the land (e.g., Deut. 8:8; II Sam. 17:29; II Chron. 31:5; for… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Honey — «Honey» redirige aquí. Para otras acepciones, véase Honey (desambiguación). Honey Municipio de México …   Wikipedia Español

  • honey — [hun′ē] n. pl. honeys [ME honi, hunig < OE hunig, akin to Ger honig (OHG honang) < IE base * kenekó , honey yellow > Sans kāñcana , golden] 1. a thick, sweet, syrupy substance that bees make as food from the nectar of flowers and store… …   English World dictionary

  • Honey — Hon ey, v. t. To make agreeable; to cover or sweeten with, or as with, honey. [1913 Webster] Canst thou not honey me with fluent speech? Marston. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Honey — Hon ey, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Honeyed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Honeying}.] To be gentle, agreeable, or coaxing; to talk fondly; to use endearments; also, to be or become obsequiously courteous or complimentary; to fawn. Honeying and making love. Shak.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Honey — f English: from the vocabulary word, Old English huneg. Honey was used throughout the Middle Ages in place of sugar (which was only introduced from the New World in the 16th century), and the word has long been used as an expression of endearment …   First names dictionary

  • honey — ► NOUN (pl. honeys) 1) a sweet, sticky yellowish brown fluid made by bees from flower nectar. 2) chiefly N. Amer. darling; sweetheart. 3) informal an excellent example: it s a honey of a movie. ORIGIN Old English …   English terms dictionary

  • Honey — Honey,der:⇨Liebling(1) …   Das Wörterbuch der Synonyme

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