People who have visited Greece or Cyprus may remember that the Greek word for “thank you” is euxaristó, pronounced “efharistó”. This is actually a verb-form meaning “I thank [you]”, so if several people are expressing gratitude, you should say euxaristoume “we thank [you]”.
Those readers who go to church may recognise that the Greek word for “thank you” is the source of the English word Eucharist, which is often used as a synonym for the Christian service of Holy Communion, although its basic meaning is in fact “thanksgiving”.
This is not to be confused with the American Thanksgiving celebration, of course, which was celebrated last month. Since 1941 it has always been celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November – in Canada it occurs on the second Monday of October. Historically, it is not totally unrelated to the Eucharist because thanks are involved, but it is now a predominantly secular occasion which is celebrated by Americans of all ethnicities, and of all religions and none.
It began in the USA as a kind of autumn harvest festival, a day of giving thanks for that year’s produce. It is widely believed by Americans that their modern festival is a tradition descending from the 1621 harvest supper shared between the Pilgrim Fathers and the indigenous Algonquian-speaking Wampanoag people, who subsequently came close to extinction as a result of imported European diseases, and of being sold into slavery elsewhere in New England as well as in the Caribbean, by the English-speaking settlers.
The Wampanoag language is a dialect of Massachusett, a Southern New England Algonquian language, which tragically lost its last native speakers more than a century ago. These people do not have a great deal to be thankful for.
At Thanksgiving, Americans typically eat native produce – turkey, potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin…
Elizabeth Frances and Joe Tapper in Manahatta at The Public Theater. Joan Marcus 
Joan Marcus
