You know, there's a really strange, quirky coincidence with Hebrew. The word hodu can mean "Thanks." It's the root of the word Todah, which means "thank you."
But, for reasons I don't know, Hodu also means "Turkey." Which means that Yom Hodu could mean "Turkey Day" or "Thanks Day." Or, a bit more colloquially, "Thanksgiving Day."
Hodu L'Adonai, Ki Tov - Let's give thanks, and Turkey, to God!
Happy Hodu Day to all!
2 comments:
Hey, Jason. "Hodu" = "India" in Biblical Hebrew. (See chapter 1 of Megillat Esther, for example.) So turkey became known as "tarnegol hodu" — "Indian fowl" via the same misnomer that dubbed Native Americans "Indians."
I also love the pun of 'hodu l'adonai ki tov' at this time of year…
Chag Ha-Hodu, ve-Hodaya, sameach!
—Michael Fessler
Right after posting this, I turned up a link with much more details — fascinating.
http://www.balashon.com/2006/11/hodu.html
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