Simply put, an anniversary is a day of remembrance, a day that celebrates or commemorates an event that occurred on that particular date in the past.
And while our modern vocabulary mainly associates the word anniversary with an important historical event or when comes to our micro-universe, with the celebration of a personal accomplishment or milestone, for example – a wedding or a graduation anniversary; the word, as a noun, entered the English language to name a Catholic feast.
The word anniversary first appeared in English in the 13th century, based on the Latin word anniversarium, which stems from the adjective anniversarius, with the meaning of a “returning yearly” (from annus, genitive anni and meaning “year”, plus versus, past participle of vertere “to turn”.)
The word was firstly used in the church where anniversary days anniversaria (dies) were the days of the saints where each marked the date of the death of a saint and his translation to the eternal life.
In parallel, among from naming the Deaths of Saints days, the word anniversary also referred to the annual practice of people praying for the souls of their deceased friends and relatives.
The first written record of the church usage of anniversary comes from 1230, from Ancrene Riwle or Guide for Anchoresses, an anonymous devotional book for nuns.
The Old English had its own word to name the yearly commemoration of any past date of importance – mynddæg, which literally meant “mind-day” and described how certain dates bring us to mind, make us reflect on our own past. Which word was recorded in use since circa 950, appearing in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People written by the Venerable Bede.
Obviously, at the time, it had a religious ecclesiastical connotation. By the 16th century, the word anniversary came to gradually enter the mundane vocabulary and to be firstly defined in 1552, in Richard Huloet’s Abecedarium Anglo-Latinum, the biggest dictionary of its time, as: “Anniversary, or that which year runs at one time, Anniversarius.”
The common term wedding anniversary was firstly recorded in use in 1684, in The diary of John Evelyn and the word anniversary was used as a synonym of an annual publication, e.g. a magazine, in only 1827.
An anniversary is a great chance to look back and remember who we are, where we have been and where we are going to. An anniversary is always an occasion to celebrate past successes and hopes for the future.
We are proud to announce that this month EVS Translations celebrated its 25th anniversary!
It is an important milestone for us and this look back is one of pride and satisfaction.
