the.com/welcome
a door held open with a word, the smallest act of letting someone belong
means a friendly greeting or expression that lets someone know their arrival, presence, or participation is genuinely wanted.
from From Old English wilcuma, a warm little compound: wil- (related to 'will,' meaning desire or pleasure) plus cuma (a guest, one who comes — a cousin of the verb 'come'). So a wilcuma was literally a 'desired comer,' a guest you actually wanted. The first syllable later drifted toward 'well,' nudged by the cheerful sense of welfare and well-wishing, giving us the modern spelling — though the heart of it always meant the guest who came according to your wish.
- origin
- Old English wilcuma, meaning a desired guest
- hidden math
- not from will-come, but from pleasure-comer
- doormat fame
- printed on coir mats since Victorian England
- phrase pivot
- became a polite reply to thanks only recently