First Known Use of lang syne Adverb 15th century, in the meaning defined above Noun , in the meaning defined above. Learn More About lang syne. Time Traveler for lang syne The first known use of lang syne was in the 15th century See more words from the same century. Statistics for lang syne Look-up Popularity. Style: MLA. Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary. Here's the second verse, for example:. The lyrics to the later verses, when translated into English , make this perfectly clear.
The "pint-stoup" business is essentially saying, "Surely you'll buy a pint and I'll buy a pint and we'll drink to the good old days. Old friends who haven't seen each other in a while are meeting up again, having a drink, and reminiscing. If this were a song that you normally listened to in a quiet room at full length in English when sober, there would be no confusion. Since that's basically the opposite of a New Year's Eve party, which is when you usually hear the song, there is a lot of confusion.
But the song itself is not especially complicated. One reason a random Scottish folk song has come to be synonymous with the new year is that New Year's celebrations known as Hogmanay loom unusually large in Scottish folk culture — so much so that Scotland's official website has a whole Hogmanay section, which notes that, "Historically, Christmas was not observed as a festival and Hogmanay was the more traditional celebration in Scotland. That's because the Scottish Reformation brought to power followers of a Calvinist branch of Protestant Christianity known as Presbyterians who didn't really care for Christmas.
Indeed, in the Scottish parliament went so far as to abolish Christmas vacation "and all observation thairof," citing its roots in "superstitious observatione. But Presbyterianism put down deeper roots in Scotland, leading Hogmanay to displace Christmas as the number one midwinter celebration. Everyone likes a good party, and the end of one year and the beginning of the next seems like as good a thing to celebrate as anything else, so Scottish-inflected New Year's celebrations — including the sentimental and appealingly nonspecific "Auld Lang Syne" — came naturally to the English-speaking world.
From until , first on radio and then on television, Americans tuned in to the New Year's Eve broadcast by Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians , a big band act led by Lombardo, a Canadian whose parents immigrated from Italy. By the mids, Lombardo's broadcasts began to face serious competition from Dick Clark's "New Year's Rockin' Eve," which was positioned to attract younger viewers and emphasized the rock element to contrast with the Royal Canadians' big band tunes.
But for decades, Lombardo owned December 31 — even earning the nickname "Mr. Lombardo didn't write the song or invent the tradition of playing it to celebrate the new year, but the unusual television-centricity of North American observation of the holiday meant that his decision to play "Auld Lang Syne" turned it from a tradition into the tradition. And we'll tak' a right gude-willie waught, for auld lang syne. The song itself is reflective in nature, and is basically about two friends catching up over a drink or two, their friendship having been long and occasionally distant.
The famous tune is loosely based on a pentatonic five-note scale, and has been borrowed and quoted by countless composers and writers. Read more: What are the lyrics to God Save the Queen? Careful with those tankards, now.
For the ambitious, however …. Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne.
Should old acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, And long, long ago. And for long, long ago, my dear For long, long ago.
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