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Origin and history of heyday

heyday(n.)

also hey-day, late 16c. as an exclamation, an alteration of heyda (1520s), an exclamation of playfulness, cheerfulness, or surprise something like Modern English hurrah; apparently it is an extended form of the Middle English interjection hey or hei (see hey). Compare Dutch heidaar, German heida, Danish heida. Modern sense of "stage of greatest vigor" first recorded 1751 (perhaps from a notion that the word was high-day), and it altered the spelling.

also from late 16c.

Entries linking to heyday

hey(interj.)

c. 1200 as a call implying challenge, rebuttal, anger, derision; variously spelled in Middle English hei, hai, ai, he, heh. Later in Middle English expressing sorrow, or concern; also a shout of encouragement to hunting dogs. Possibly a natural expression (compare Roman eho, Greek eia, German hei, Old French hay, French eh). In modern use often weakened, expressing pleasure, surprise.

Þa onswerede þe an swiðe prudeliche, `Hei! hwuch wis read of se icudd keiser!' ["St. Katherine of Alexandria," c. 1200]

In Latin, hei was a cry of grief or fear; but heia, eia was an interjection denoting joy.

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