Congratulations
They did it. Tell them you noticed.
The story
Where it comes from
Congratulating someone is one of the oldest social acts we have a written record of: Roman letters of gratulatio on an election or a marriage survive from two thousand years ago, and the Chinese character 贺 (hè, to congratulate) appears on bronze inscriptions far older than that. The commercial congratulations card arrived with the Victorian greeting-card boom, first for weddings and births, and by the 20th century for exams, jobs and new homes.
How it's celebrated
A new job, a graduation, a promotion, a new home, a passed exam, a wedding, a baby: each has its own etiquette, but the message is the same. In Chinese-speaking communities congratulations often come with a red packet or a phrase in four characters; in Japan a formal gift envelope (noshibukuro); across Europe, flowers or a bottle. A card lets you say the thing you would say in the room if you could be there.
Did you know
- The Latin root gratulari means 'to show joy', so to congratulate is literally to be glad alongside someone.
- In Cantonese, 恭喜 (gung1 hei2) does double duty as both 'congratulations' and the festive New Year greeting.
- 'Mabrook' in Arabic and 'mazel tov' in Hebrew both originally invoked blessing or good fortune rather than praise.
The greeting
Congratulations!
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