According to Etymology Online , the word for “happy” in most languages came from the word for “lucky.” This suggests an interesting trend—perhaps our ancestors believed that happiness was largely a by-product of luck? It also points to a possible difference of general opinion between earlier generations and our own 20th and 21st-century generations: that happiness was not a vital factor in a good life, but essentially a bonus that some lucky individuals got to experience. Here’s what author Darrin McMahon writes about the origins and root words of the word “happiness”: “It is a striking fact that in every Indo-European language, without exception, going all the way back to ancient Greek, the word for happiness is a cognate with the word for luck. Hap is the Old Norse and Old English root of happiness, and it just means luck or chance, as did the Old French heur, giving us bonheur, good fortune or happiness. German gives us the word Gluck, which to this day means both happiness
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You might be wondering why happiness is considered such an important aspect of life. You may be thinking, “Sure, it’s great to be happy, but that’s not what life is about!” In some ways, the science would agree with you; although life satisfaction , meaning, and well-being often go hand-in-hand with happiness, that is not always the case. Further, many researchers have found people to be more content with a life of meaning and purpose than a life of happiness. Happiness is not necessarily the overarching goal for everyone in life. However, happiness is so important because it has some undeniably positive benefits and co-occurring factors. June Silny at Happify outlines 14 answers to the question, “ What’s so great about happiness, anyway? ”: Happy people are more successful in multiple life domains, including marriage, friendship, income, work performance, and health. Happy people get sick less often and experience fewer symptoms when they do get sick. Happy people have
Let’s take a look at the definition of happiness so we’re all on the same page. Oxford Dictionary’s definition of “ happiness ” is a simple one: “ The state of being happy .” Not exactly what we were looking for, was it? Perhaps we need to dive a little deeper. Oxford Dictionary’s definition of “ happy ” is a little more helpful: “ Feeling or showing pleasure or contentment .” That’s better! So, happiness is the state of feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. From this definition, we can glean a few important points about happiness: Happiness is a state, not a trait; in other words, it isn’t a long-lasting, permanent feature or personality trait, but a more fleeting, changeable state. Happiness is equated with feeling pleasure or contentment, meaning that happiness is not to be confused with joy, ecstasy, bliss, or other more intense feelings. Happiness can be either feeling or showing, meaning that happiness is not necessarily an internal or external experience,
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