A question to ponder after we’ve just finished adjusting our clocks to accommodate Daylight Savings Time: Have you wondered why we always say O’clock with the time?

I found an interesting explanation in “Why Do We Use ‘O’Clock’ When Telling Time?” by Caroline Bologna on the Huffpost website.

According to the article, “O’clock” is a simplified form of the expressions “of the clock” and “of clock,” which people began saying after clocks were invented. Quoting Esteban Touma, a cultural and linguistic expert at the language-learning app Babbel: “When mechanical clocks became more widespread in Europe around the 14th century, people needed a way to distinguish the hour shown on a clock from other ways of telling time, such as by the sun or church bells. If someone said ‘three,’ that could once have meant three hours after sunrise or simply a rough point in the day. Saying ‘three of the clock’ clarified that you meant the specific hour indicated on a mechanical clock face. The contracted form, ‘o’clock,’ became standardized in Early Modern English, around the 16th and 17th centuries, and has remained in everyday use ever since,” Touma explains, who considers the term “a fossil ― a surviving fragment of a much longer medieval phrase that we no longer use in full.”

It’s another example of how language evolves to meet our needs.

For the complete explanation and history, visit https://www.huffpost.com/entry/o-clock-time-origin-history_l_69a5c520e4b0d383f50464b7?.