The meaning of ‘Good morning and good time’
I’m sure you’ve been greeted at some point with a friendly ‘Good morning and good morning!’ This expression, according to the dictionaries, should be written as ‘Good day and good time!’, but there seems to be some confusion around the word ‘ora’. Many people have interpreted this expression as referring to the time of day, but in reality, it is more likely to allude to the concept of a ‘gentle and pleasant breeze’.
The word ‘ora’ (without the ‘h’) was traditionally used to indicate a gentle and pleasant breeze, with roots in the Latin ‘aura’, meaning breeze or light wind. Thus, the fixed expressions ‘fer bona ora’ and ‘fer mala ora’ refer to ‘make good weather’ and ‘make bad weather’, wishing that the day passes without any weather mishaps to spoil it.
In some regions, such as Terres de l’Ebre, these expressions are very common and have the same meaning. In short, when someone greets you with a ‘Good morning and good time!’, they are probably hoping that you have a good time during the day, without any weather setbacks to spoil it.
The meaning of ‘make good time’ and ‘orage’
In addition to the meaning of ‘soft and pleasant wind’, the word ‘storm’ also has a similar connotation. Initially, it referred to the wind, especially if it was not very strong. In Mallorca and the Valencian Country, it is a frequent word, and diminutive suffixes such as ‘-et’ and ‘-ol’ are added to indicate a gentle wind. In addition, in some localities, such as Cassà de la Selva, ‘torage’ was used to refer to a very strong storm, although this meaning is no longer so common.
Today, ‘weather’ also refers to the state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, being synonymous with the term ‘weather’. Thus, this word has evolved to include all kinds of weather conditions, such as rain, sun, or snow, not just gentle wind.
