Leap day!

Merriam-Webster's says that the term leap year comes from the 14th century. I suppose "leap day" is a newer construction. The idea that it's a day for the calendar to leap forward seems like an odd construction. I would have expected something like Bonus Day or Correction Day.

The word leap itself seems to have sprung into the language as a verb sometime before the 12th century. It's traced back to Middle English lepen, from Old English hleapan, akin to Old High German hlouffan, meaning "to run."  If you have to go back further than hlouffan, then I feel sorry for you.

But it is Leap Day! Leaping and jumping is fun!

Whee!

So let's have some jumpy thoughts on leaping from my copy of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

"With the help of God I shall leap over the wall." (Prayer Book, 1662)

Yay!

"Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." (Bible, Isaiah 35:6)

Hooray!

"Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen!
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties!" (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

Hacha!

"A little before you made a leap into the dark." (Thomas Brown, Letters from the Dead)

Uh...

"By heaven methinks it were an easy leap
To pluck bright honour from the pale-fac'd moon,
Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,
And pluck up drowned honour by the locks." (William Shakespeare, Henry IV Part 1)

Well, okay...

"With rue my heart is laden
  For golden friends I had,
For many a rose-lipt maiden
  And many a lightfoot lad.
By brooks too broad for leaping
  The lightfoot lads are laid;
The rose-lipt girls are sleeping
  In fields where roses fade." (A. E. Housman, "With Rue My Heart Is Laden")

Sad!

"My mother groan'd, my father wept,
Into the dangerous world I leapt;
Helpless, naked, piping loud,
Like a fiend hid in a cloud." (William Blake, "Infant Sorrow")

Whuh...!

"I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark." (Thomas Hobbes, final words)

Umm... not so sure leaping is as much fun as I originally thought. Let's stop the leaping. Maybe it's best to keep your feet on the ground after all.