external monologue

may day and mayday

the first of what may be many etymological entries...

today being the first of may, april, fiance of JosiahQ asked in a comment whether i knew the etymology of "May Day" and "mayday" and what one has to do with the other. so, i did a quick lookup at one of my favorite linguaphile sites, bartelby.com and here's what i came up with.

apparently the two have nothing to do with each other. "May Day," in pagan Europe it was a festive holy day celebrating the first spring planting. Since then it has gone through many transformations, incorporating, as you might have suspected a number of fertility rite associations: the Maypole as phallic symbol, etc. etc. During industrial revolution it somehow became associated with the labor party when an historic strike took place on May 1, 1886.

from workers.labor.net.au:
"Our modern celebration of Mayday as a working class holiday developed from the US workers struggle for the eight hour day in 1886. The working class movement in the USA began campaigning for an eight hour day in the 1860s, following the Civil War. The historic strike of May 1st, 1886 was a culmination of a concerted struggle. Chicago was the major industrial centre of the USA. Police attacked striking workers from the McCormack Harvester Co., killing six."

evidently it's become something of a rallying point for workers of the world to unite around. Even Noam Chomsky has something to say about it.

but the more interesting word to me is "mayday," used as a distress signal. according to bartleby.com its defined as "An international radiotelephone signal word used by aircraft and ships in distress" and the etymology is from from the French phrase m'aider meaning "help me!"

a coincidental tidbit: the two actually came together on May 1, 1986, 100 years to the day after the labor strike, at the nuclear reactor melted down in Chernobyl. there was an editorial shortly thereafter in the New York Times entitled, “Mayday! and May Day” criticising Soviet suppression of news.