Centuries ago, people said “of the clock” when they told someone the time, as in “six of the clock.”
Then in the 17th and 18th centuries, this phrase was shortened to “of clock” or “a clock.”
Finally, in the early 18th century, these terms were shortened still further to “o’clock.”

Related Posts
-
Why Do We Say God Bless You! After a Sneeze? Ancient man believed that his breath contained his spirit, or his soul, and that it lived in his head. Therefore, when he sneezed, he feared that he was losing his soul and leaving…
-
Why Do We Say “A Little Bird Told Me”? Ancient people believed that birds could talk and bring information to them. Passages in the Old Testament and in the Koran, the Bible of the Mohammedans, describe birds talking to wise men. These…
-
Where Did the Word “Amen” Come From and Why Do Christians Say “Amen” After a Prayer? The word amen appears 13 times in the Hebrew Bible and 119 times in the New Testament as well as in the earliest Muslim writings. The word originated in Egypt around 2500 B.C.…
-
Why Did Archimedes Say “Give Me a Place To Stand and I Can Move the World” and What Does It Mean? One of Archimedes' achievements was discovering the mechanics of the lever. He knew a small force at one end of a lever could move a great weight if the pivot, or fulcrum were…
-
Where do croissants come from and Why did Marie Antoinette say “let them eat cake”? When Marie Antoinette was wallowing in riches in her Petit Trianon and her husband, Louis XVI, was gorging himself regularly on eight-course meals, many in Paris were hungry and some were starving. They…
-
Why Do People Say That Refined, White Sugar Is Bad and Unhealthy For You? This nonsensical claim is a mystery to me. It seems that some people take the word refined as an indication that we humans have somehow defied a law of Nature by having the…