August 3, 2001

halcyon

What is the complete definition of "halcyon" and in what context is it best used?

Since the 15th of December is the beginning of the halcyon days, it’s a good time to talk about this word. Halcyon is both an adjective and a noun. The adjective means ‘calm, quiet, tranquil’. By extension, it can also mean ‘happy or carefree’ or ‘prosperous’. It is most often used in the expression halcyon days, which goes back to the 16th century.

The noun halcyon came into English through Latin from Greek in the 14th century. The Greek word alkyon or halkyon means 'kingfisher', and that is one meaning of the English noun. Halkyon also refers to a legendary bird, and that's where the adjective meaning comes from. (The original spelling was "alkyon," but folk etymology added the "h" in association with Greek hals, 'sea'.)

Ovid tells the story of the halcyon in Book Eleven of the Metamorphoses. Aeolus, the ruler of the winds, had a daughter named Alcyone (“al-SEE-uh-nee”) or Halcyone, who was greatly devoted to her husband, Ceyx, the king of Thessaly. He was drowned in a storm, and in her grief at seeing his body in the sea Alcyone threw herself from a jetty. However, rather than sinking, she “seemed to skim the surface, like a bird on new-found wings.” When she reached the body of her husband and tried to embrace him with her wings, the gods took pity on her and turned Ceyx into a bird. “They mate, have young, and in the winter season,/ For seven days of calm, Alcyone/ Broods over her nest on the surface of the waters/ While the sea-waves are quiet. Through this time/ Aeolus keeps his winds at home, and ocean/ Is smooth for his descendants’ sake.” (Translation by Rolfe Humphries)

From this myth grew the story of a legendary bird, usually identified with the kingfisher, that was said to nest on the sea and was believed to be able to charm the wind and the waves to calm the sea for fourteen days centered on the winter solstice (i.e., seven days before and seven days after). The following was written in 1398: “In the cliffe of a ponde of occean, Alcion, a see foule, in wynter maketh her neste and layeth egges in vii days and sittyth on brood...seuen dayes.” Milton referred to the story in his Hymn to the Nativity: "But peaceful was the night/ Wherein the Prince of light/ His reign of peace upon the earth began;/ The winds with wonder whist/ Smoothly the waters kist/ Whispering new joys to the mild ocean,/ Who now hath quite forgot to rave/ While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmèd wave."

The days when the halcyon was brooding and the sea was calm were called the halcyon days: “They lay and sit about mid-winter...and the time whiles they are broodie, is called the halcyon daies: for during that season the sea is calm and navigable, especially in the coast of Sicilie.” (1601) A 1578 prayer contains the line “It hath pleased thy grace to give us these Alcyon days, which yet we enjoy.” In Henry VI, Part One, Joan la Pucelle says “Expect Saint Martin’s summer, halcyon’s days,/ Since I have entered into these wars.”

In current usage, halcyon days usually carries a note of nostalgia for earlier, more pleasant times.

Georgia