It’s going to be a fun week around Writing Roseanna…so I thought I’d start us off with some fun, happy words. =)

I suppose I should start with the root word, cheer. The earliest English reference to word, from about 1200, was from the Anglo-French chere, and meant “face.” Within about 50 years, it had extended to mean “frame of mind or state of feeling.” Within another hundred years, it was more specifically the mood as could be determined by the expression on one’s face.

By about 1400, though, cheer was reserved for the positive of those expressions. And right about then, the verb came around–cheer, as in to cheer someone up. The act of shouting out encouragement is from about 1720 and is thought to have originated with sailors.

But what about cheers and cheerio?

First, cheers. As a salute or a toast, this British-ism dates back only to 1919–pretty new! It is quite simply a plural of cheer–the act of cheering.

Cheerio claims a date of 1910. Another Britishism, this departing salute was just a way of wishing someone good cheer with a bit of style. 😉

But before I say “Cheerio!” for the day . . . we have some fun waiting this week!! The awesome folks of Bethany House let me know that there are a couple extra ARCs of The Lost Heiress and asked if I would like to do a contest to give them away. YES, PLEASE!

So beginning on Thursday, the fun will be hosted right here. I’ll be running a contest, promoted by Bethany House, for these advance copies of The Lost Heiress… AND I’ll be sharing the first chapter here on my blog! AND, a week from today, I’ll be revealing the cover of the second book, The Reluctant Duchess, as part of the ongoing celebration! I’m so excited!!

Normal posting will be suspended during the contest, but this Wednesday I’ll be doing a Thoughtful post since I was under the weather last week and didn’t get one up. =)

See you back here soon! Cheerio!