Morning
Morning is the period of time between Midnight and noon or, more commonly, the interval between sunrise and noon.[1] Morning precedes afternoon, evening, and night in the sequence of a day. Originally, the term referred to sunrise.
Etymology
The name (which comes from the Middle English word morwening) was formed from the analogy of evening using the word "morn" (in Middle English morwen), and originally meant the coming of the sunrise as evening meant the beginning of the close of the day. The Middle English morwen dropped over time and became morwe, then eventually morrow, which properly means "morning", but was soon used to refer to the following day (i.e., "tomorrow"), as in other Germanic languages—English is unique in restricting the word to the newer usage.[2][3] The Spanish word "mañana" has two meanings in English: "morning," and "tomorrow," along with the word "morgen" in Dutch and German which also means both "morning," and "tomorrow." Max Weber, (General Economic History, pp23) states that the English word "morning" and the German word "Morgen" both signify the size of land strip "which an ox could plow in a day without giving out". "Tagwerk" in German, and "a day's work" in English mean the same. A Good morning in this sense might mean a good day's plow. [4]
Significance for humans
Some languages that use the time of day in greeting have a special greeting for morning, such as the English good morning. The appropriate time to use such greetings, such as whether it may be used between midnight and dawn, depends on the culture's or speaker's concept of morning.
Morning typically encompasses the (mostly menial) prerequisites for full productivity and life in public, such as bathing, eating a meal such as breakfast, dressing, and so on. It may also include information activities, such as planning the day's schedule or reading a morning newspaper. The boundaries of such morning periods are by necessity idiosyncratic, but they are typically considered to have ended on reaching a state of full readiness for the day's productive activity. For some, the word morning may refer to the period immediately following waking up, irrespective of the current time of day. This modern sense of morning is due largely to the worldwide spread of electricity, and the concomitant independence from natural light sources.[5]
The morning period may be a period of enhanced or reduced energy and productivity. The ability of a person to wake up effectively in the morning may be influenced by a gene called "Period 3". This gene comes in two forms, a "long" and a "short" variant. It seems to affect the person's preference for mornings or evenings. People who carry the long variant were over-represented as morning people, while the ones carrying the short variant were evening preference people.[6]
References
- ↑ Online Dictionary Definitions of "morning"
- ↑ Origin of the phrase "Good Morning
- ↑ Etymology of the word "morning
- ↑ Weber, Max (1961). General Economic History. New York: Collier Books. p. 23.
- ↑ "Why some of us are early risers". BBC News. London. 2003-06-17. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
- ↑ Gene determines sleep patterns
External links
| ||||||||||||||
|