Why is it called a 'honeymoon'?

BRY2K

The Merriam-Webster dictionary reports the etymology as from "the idea that the first month of marriage is the sweetest" (1546). One of the more recent citations in the Oxford English Dictionary indicates that, while today honeymoon has a positive meaning, the word was originally a reference to the inevitable waning of love like a phase of the moon. This, the first known literary reference to the honeymoon, was penned in 1552, in Richard Huloet's Abecedarium Anglico Latinum. Huleot writes: “ Hony mone, a term proverbially applied to such as be newly married, which will not fall out at the first, but th'one loveth the other at the beginning excedingly, the likelyhood of their exceadinge love appearing to aswage, ye which time the vulgar people call the hony mone." There are many calques of the word honeymoon from English into other languages. The Welsh word for honeymoon is mis mêl (honey month). In Arabic it is shahr el 'assal also translated to honey month. The Spanish word for honeymoon is la luna de miel (the moon of honey), and the Italian luna di miele (same translation). The Persian word for it is mah e asal which has both the translations honeymoon and honey month (mah in Persian meaning both moon and month). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeymoon Mar 14 08, 7:14 PM

zbeckabee

Honeymoon -- 1546, hony moone, but probably much older, from honey in reference to the new marriage's sweetness, and moon in reference to how long it would probably last, or from the changing aspect of the moon: no sooner full than it begins to wane. Fr. has cognate lune de miel, but Ger. version is flitterwochen (pl.), from flitter "tinsel." http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=honeymoon&searchmode=none Mar 14 08, 7:24 PM

Arpeggionist

I have heard that ancient Mesopotamian custom called for a celebration of the first month of marriage, in which the bride's father supplies the happy couple with gifts of spices and honey and blessings for a prosperous life. The term "honeymoon" certainly refers to the first month of a marriage linguistically. Mar 15 08, 6:39 PM