mid-15c., "to perform publicly with appropriate rites," originally of the Mass, from Latin celebratus "much-frequented; kept solemn; famous," past participle of celebrare "assemble to honor," also "to publish; sing praises of; practice often," originally "to frequent in great numbers," from celeber "frequented, populous, crowded;" with transferred senses of "well-attended; famous; often-repeated." Its etymology is unknown.

General sense of "commemorate or honor with demonstrations of joy" is from 1550s; formerly it also could be with demonstrations of sorrow or regret. Meaning "make widely known, praise, glorify" is from 1610s. Related: Celebrated; celebrating.

c. 1600, "brilliant light, brightness shooting in diverging rays or beams," from radiant (adj.) or else from Medieval Latin radiantia "brightness," from radiare "to beam, shine" (see radiation). Figurative use, of beauty, joy, etc., is by 1761. Related: Radiancy.

Radiance ... is generally a light that is agreeable to the eyes; hence the word is often chosen for corresponding figurative expressions: as, the radiance of his cheerfulness; the radiance of the gospel. Brilliance represents a light that is strong, often too strong to be agreeable, and marked by variation or play and penetration : as, the brilliance of a diamond or of fireworks. [Century Dictionary]

c. 1200 as a call implying challenge, rebuttal, anger, derision; variously spelled in Middle English hei, hai, ai, he, heh. Later in Middle English expressing sorrow, or concern; also a shout of encouragement to hunting dogs. Possibly a natural expression (compare Roman eho, Greek eia, German hei, Old French hay, French eh). In modern use often weakened, expressing pleasure, surprise.

Þa onswerede þe an swiðe prudeliche, `Hei! hwuch wis read of se icudd keiser!' ["St. Katherine of Alexandria," c. 1200]

In Latin, hei was a cry of grief or fear; but heia, eia was an interjection denoting joy.

"sequence of sensations or images passing through the mind of a sleeping person," mid-13c., probably related to Old Norse draumr, Danish drøm, Swedish dröm, Old Saxon drom "merriment, noise," Old Frisian dram "dream," Dutch droom, Old High German troum, German Traum "dream." These all are perhaps from a Proto-Germanic *draugmas "deception, illusion, phantasm" (source also of Old Saxon bidriogan, Old High German triogan, German trügen "to deceive, delude," Old Norse draugr "ghost, apparition"). Possible cognates outside Germanic are Sanskrit druh- "seek to harm, injure," Avestan druz- "lie, deceive."

Old English dream meant "joy, mirth, noisy merriment," also "music." Much study has failed to prove that Old English dream is the source of the modern word for "sleeping vision," despite being identical in form. Perhaps the meaning of the word changed dramatically, or "vision" was an unrecorded secondary Old English meaning of dream, or there are two words here.

OED offers this theory for the absence of dream in the modern sense in the record of Old English: "It seems as if the presence of dream 'joy, mirth, music,' had caused dream 'dream' to be avoided, at least in literature, and swefn, lit. 'sleep,' to be substituted ...."

The dream that meant "joy, mirth, music" faded out of use after early Middle English. According to Middle English Compendium, the replacement of swefn (Middle English swevn) by dream in the sense "sleeping vision" occurs earliest and is most frequent in the East Midlands and the North of England, where Scandinavian influence was strongest.

Dream in the sense of "that which is presented to the mind by the imaginative faculty, though not in sleep" is from 1580s. The meaning "ideal or aspiration" is from 1931, from the earlier sense of "something of dream-like beauty or charm" (1888). The notion of "ideal" is behind dream girl (1850), etc.

Before it meant "sleeping vision" Old English swefn meant "sleep," as did a great many Indo-European "dream" nouns originally, such as Lithuanian sapnas, Old Church Slavonic sunu, and the Romanic words (French songe, Spanish sueño, Italian sogno all from Latin somnium. All of these (including Old English swefn) are from PIE *swep-no-, which also is the source of Greek hypnos (from PIE root *swep- "to sleep"). Old English also had mæting in the "sleeping vision" sense.

c. 1300, chaufen, "be provoked, grow or be excited;" late 14c. in literal sense "to make warm, to heat" (also intransitive, "to grow warm or hot"), especially (early 15c.) "to warm by rubbing, excite heat by friction," from Old French chaufer "heat, warm up, become warm" (12c., Modern French chauffer), from Vulgar Latin *calefare, from Latin calefacere "to make hot, make warm," from calere "be warm" (from PIE root *kele- (1) "warm") + facere "to make, do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put").

From 1520s as "abrade the skin by rubbing." Figurative senses from late 14c. include now-obsolete "kindle (joy), inspire, make passionate" as well as "provoke, vex, anger." Related: Chafed; chafing. Chafing-dish is from late 15c.

Old English sang "voice, song, art of singing; metrical composition adapted for singing, psalm, poem," from Proto-Germanic *songwho- (source also of Old Norse söngr, Norwegian song, Swedish sång, Old Saxon, Danish, Old Frisian, Old High German, German sang, Middle Dutch sanc, Dutch zang, Gothic saggws), from PIE *songwh-o- "singing, song," from *sengwh- "to sing, make an incantation" (see sing (v.)).

Phrase for a song "for a trifle, for little or nothing" is from "All's Well" III.ii.9 (the identical image, por du son, is in Old French. With a song in (one's) heart "feeling joy" is first attested 1930 in Lorenz Hart's lyric. Song and dance as a form of vaudeville act is attested from 1872; figurative sense of "rigmarole" is from 1895.

late 12c., scornen, "act contemptuously;" early 13c., "feel scorn or contempt, be contemptuous;" late 13c., transitive, "hold in scorn or contempt;" from Anglo-French, Old North French escarnir (Old French escharnir), a common Romanic verb (Spanish escarnir, Italian schernire), from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *skarnjan "mock, deride" (source also of Middle High German scherzen "to jump with joy, Old High German skernon, Middle Dutch schernen). Related: Scorned; scorning.

OED rejects the suggestion that the vowel change in the Romanic languages might be by influence of or confusion with Old French escorner "deprive of horns," hence "deprive of honor or ornament, disgrace," from Vulgar Latin *excornare (source of Italian scornare "treat with contempt"), from Latin ex- "without" (see ex-) + cornu "horn" (see horn (n.)).