“From Carnival to Ash Wednesday”

An etimological look at the story behind the lenguage

If you can think back to Christmas it was probably devoted to overindulgence, especially in the calorie department. And now, here I am in February, standing on my bathroom scales asking myself the eternal question: “Why do I keep doing this to myself?”
But it’s not just me, is it? As the dictionary shows, the tango between overindulgence and dieting has been going on for many centuries.

Let’s start with Lent. Surprisingly, in English, “Lent” isn’t originally a word about dieting at all. It comes from the Old English ‘lencten’, meaning springtime, which in turn came from the old Saxon ‘lentin’ meaning to lengthen – as in the daylight time. The religious fasting got named after the season. So when people say they’re “doing Lent,” linguistically they’re basically saying they’re “doing spring.” (Which I think sounds nicer.)

Then comes Carnival, the pre-Lent festival. “Carnival” appears in English in the 1540s meaning the time of merrymaking before Lent, via French and Italian, and an older Italian form points to carnelevare: “to remove meat.” In other words: party now, because soon we’ll be removing meat from the menu.

And the morning after? Ash Wednesday. The phrase is as literal as it sounds: the Wednesday marked by ashes. Remember the catchy phrase “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust”? The ashes from burnt leaves (not the deceased) symbolised mortality, and were used to mark the foreheads of the congregation during church services. There are even records of a Middle English nickname, “Pulverwednesdai” (“Dust Wednesday”), because, as the legendary Joni Mitchell said, nothing sobers you up more than a reminder that you are truly made out of star dust.

And while we’re at it, the word “diet” deserves a little redemption. It didn’t start life meaning “a miserable month of fasting.” It comes from Greek diaita, meaning a daily rutine – basically how you live, not a temporary punishment. Only later did it narrow into the modern sense of restricting food to lose weight. Thus, etymologically speaking, a “diet” is less about suffering and more about returning to a sustainable rhythm.

Which is why today’s “bathroom-scale reset plans” feel so familiar. When I go back to my intermittent fasting, it doesn’t feel so much like a brand-new invention as a modern day revamp of the old cultural tradition of overdoing it, and then taking it easy.

And that brings us back to Sant Cugat. Our Carnival is gloriously wintry: brilliant costumes, cold fingertips, and that heroic decision to dance anyway. Underneath the glitter is the same ancient philosophy baked into the words themselves: indulge, laugh, overdo it… and begin again.