[Lexicog] haply go luckily

[Fritz Goerling]

Compare also  words like "hapless "and "mishap".
David, is "haply" a haplology that happened to "happily" or even to
"haplology?"

Fritz

Probably (or, at least, mayhap) you are right etymologically that the
"happy" of "happy-go-lucky" owes more to the hap of happen than to that
of happy as we now know the word. Hap was much like "luck", as I read it
in old stuff (though I'm no expert), so "happy" probably is parallel in
formation to "lucky". I.e. one whose happenstances are positive *is*
"happy" (and therefore, secondarily, might be expected to *feel*
"happy"). I would expect, however, that most present day speakers would
have operative a folk-etymology like mine, where the present-day,
emotional "happy" is  more active. In any case, it is clear that
"happy-go-lucky" now designates an attitude of taking things positively
rather than a situation in which things are, objectively considered,
positive.

--David T

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