Does the word "merry" have some negative meaning?

Question

Two observations:

In the New Testament, the word εὐφραίνω (euphrainō) has been translated as celebrate, rejoice, glad. But only in one location, it is translated as merry, which is the famous "eat, drink and be merry" (Luke 12:19).

And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive. "And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?' "Then he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."' "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?' (Luk 12:16-20)

Another thing to note is the Queen appears to intentionally avoid saying "Merry Christmas" in her Christmas address. Even though many Brits have been accustomed to that phrase, the Queen still insisted every year saying "wish you a very happy Christmas".

So, is merry in fact a bad word?

Answer 1

Looking at the etymology of the term it appears that "marry" original meaning and main usages are related to "positive" connotations. A few "less positive" or "satirical" connotations developed mainly in the 18th century such as marry-begot or merry-bout. Overall the term is a "positive" one:

Merry (adj.):

• Old English myrge "pleasing, agreeable, pleasant, sweet; pleasantly, melodiously,"* from Proto-Germanic *murgijaz, which probably originally meant "short-lasting," (compare Old High German murg "short," Gothic gamaurgjan "to shorten"), from PIE *mreghu- "short" (see brief (adj.)). The only exact cognate for meaning outside English was Middle Dutch mergelijc "joyful."

• Connection to "pleasure" is likely via notion of "making time fly, that which makes the time seem to pass quickly" (compare German Kurzweil "pastime," literally "a short time;" Old Norse skemta "to amuse, entertain, amuse oneself," from skamt, neuter of skammr "short"). There also was a verbal form in Old English, myrgan "be merry, rejoice." For vowel evolution, see bury (v.).

  • Bot vchon enle we wolde were fyf, þe mo þe myryer. [c. 1300]

• The word had much wider senses in Middle English, such as "pleasant-sounding" (of animal voices), "fine" (of weather), "handsome" (of dress), "pleasant-tasting" (of herbs).

• Merry-bout "an incident of sexual intercourse" was low slang from 1780. Merry-begot "illegitimate" (adj.), "bastard" (n.) is from 1785. Merrie England (now frequently satirical or ironic) is 14c. meri ingland, originally in a broader sense of "bountiful, prosperous." Merry Monday was a 16c. term for "the Monday before Shrove Tuesday" (Mardi Gras).