Today’s Word of the Day is one of those little-known words you will probably never, ever use in regular conversation. So why am I bothering with the word “wayzgoose?” Well, a couple of reasons.
First, it’s an interesting, funny-sounding word, and I like interesting, funny-sounding words. And second, because we’re coming up on wayzgoose day!
My friend Michael gets all the credit for turning me on to “wayzgoose.” I had never heard the word before. But that may be because I’ve never worked in a print shop.
“Wayzgoose” (and there are numerous spellings, including waygoose, wayzegoose, wayz-goose, and even wake-goose) was an annual outing or feast thrown by a master printer for his workmen on or around St. Bartholomew’s Day, August 24th. Traditionally, the wayzgoose party marked the end of summer and the beginning of the season of working by candlelight. It was held in conjunction with St. Bartholomew’s Day, because Saint Bart was, among other things, the patron saint of bookbinders and parchment makers. The wayzgoose tradition continues today among some U.S. and Canadian publishing companies.
Okay, but why “wayzgoose” (or, as Chico Marx might have said, “I unnerstan’ why a wayzgoose, but why-a no wayz-chicken?”)? There are several theories.
One of the most popular theories centers on Nathaniel Bailey’s “Universal Etymological English Dictionary” of 1731. Bailey defined “wayz” as a bundle of straw or the stubble left over in a field after a harvest. So a “wayz-goose” or “stubble goose” was a bird fattened on that straw, which was cooked and eaten at the party. The biggest problem with that theory is that the word had been spelled waygoose (without the “z”) for decades before Bailey’s dictionary came out.
Another theory said it wasn’t a wayzgoose at all, but rather a “wake-goose,” and the “wake” was a dialect word meaning “to work by artificial light.” But the wake-goose spelling is fairly rare.
Some say the goose found its wayz because the feast was originally held in Waes in the Low Countries (the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg). But that “Waes” was pronounced “waas,” not “wayz.”
It seems likely that “wayzgoose” was borrowed from speakers in the Low Countries. There was a Dutch word, “wegshuis,” which meant a roadhouse or an inn, and could also be used to refer to a banquet. It’s possible the Englishmen had heard the word, but not seen it spelled, and “wayzgoose” was their best guess at the spelling.
Oh, and here’s a fun fact: one more reason printers may hold the wayzgoose banquet on August 24th: that’s believed by some to be the day Gutenberg completed printing one of his first Bibles in 1456, using movable metal type. (Of course, that could be a wild wayzgoose chase, or just a honking great lie, as it is generally thought that Gutenberg’s very first printed bibles were available in 1454 or 55).
