Does 'Cheers' come from 'Cheerio' or 'Cheerio' from 'Cheers'?

Question

When we say goodbye in Britain, no-one says cheerio (or maybe some posh people do?) but we say cheers quite a lot. So did cheers come from cheerio or the other way round? Or not at all? :S

Answer 1

I would GUESS , because I do not know for sure , that cheerio came from cheers and that someone one day said it in place of cheers and it caught on .

Answer 2

I don't think they are related. Cheerio is used as goodbye by some people in the UK although it is dying out. Cheers seems to have been adopted from saying cheers over drinks, it then became a general word for 'thank you.' Cheers isn't really a word for goodbye, even if you're on the phone and use cheers as goodbye, you're actually just saying thank you.

For example, 'Cheers then, bye.'

Answer 3

Cheers is a goodbye saying as much as a thank you saying.

Answer 4

I've got a link that suggests 'Cheers' appeared as a drinking toast in 1919- http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?sear...

This source dates 'Cheerio' to 1910 however, http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionar... and suggests that the etymology was 'cheery' + 'o'.

If both sources hold true, then maybe cheery begat cheerio, which begat cheers. Something like 'Be of good cheer' might have something to do with it as well, that could be the common ancestor for both of them.

1910 and 1919 are not that far apart though, and I wonder too if language has not cycled a bit. It may be the case that one term was used more than the other at different points depending on fashion. Maybe in another five or ten years cheerio will be said more than cheers? or maybe 'toodle-pip' will make a comeback?

Answer 5

Cheers:

Function:     interjection

Date:     1919

—used as a toast

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/d...

Informal, chiefly Brit

1. a drinking toast

2. a farewell greeting

3. an expression of gratitude

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cheers

Etymology:     cheery + -o

Date:     1910

chiefly British —usually used as a farewell and sometimes as a greeting or toast

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/d...

U.K. farewell: used to say goodbye  ( informal  )

[Early 20th century. Alteration of cheer]

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/d...

Answer 6

Quite probably.  We were a British coloney.