The Etymology of Welfare
Welfare is a word assembled from the simplest English parts: well and fare, meaning 'to go well' or 'to prosper'.βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ Both components are native Germanic stock, present in Old English, and the compound had formed by the fourteenth century. For most of its life, welfare was a general-purpose word for well-being and good fortune, with no political connotation. That changed in the early twentieth century. The phrase 'welfare state' was popularised in 1941 by Archbishop William Temple, who contrasted it with the 'warfare state' of Nazi Germany β a rhetorical opposition made possible by the structural similarity of the two words. After 1945, welfare became inseparable from government policy: welfare benefits, welfare programmes, welfare reform. German built the same compound independently: Wohlfahrt ('well-going') carries the same double meaning of general prosperity and state support. The word farewell, meanwhile, preserves the older verbal sense β it began as an imperative: 'may you fare well'.