Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1903 — The Word “Hurrah." [ARTICLE]

The Word “Hurrah."

gome authorities connect "hurrah" with a Hebrew shout of Joy to Jehovah, which occurs in the Psalms. Others derive it from "Thor aide!” a war cry of the ancient Northmen. Others point to the Swedish and Danish “hurra” and the German “hurren,” to move quickly, or the Danish "harre,” to buzz, with which our hurry is associated. Sir Francis Paigrave in his “History of Normandy and England” says: “It was a wise custom in Normandy, established by Rollo’s decree, that any one who bad reason to fear damage of goods, life or limb could raise the country by the cry ‘Haro!’ “Ha Baoul,’ justice in Duke Rollo’s name; hence our ‘hue and cry.’ The old English ‘harrow’ and our ‘hurrah’ are but variations of this.” There are some who regard it as merely an imitative interjection akin to “whurra,” used by Addison in a play, 1715, or of “huzza," found in Evelyn’s Diary, 1665.