mayday

mayday
mayday "distress call," 1923, apparently an Englished spelling of Fr. m'aider, shortening of venez m'aider "come help me!" But possibly a random coinage with coincidental resemblance:
"May Day" Is Airplane SOS
ENGLISH aviators who use radio telephone transmitting sets on their planes, instead of telegraph sets, have been puzzling over the problem of choosing a distress call for transmission by voice. The letters SOS wouldn't do, and just plain "help!" was not liked, and so "May Day" was chosen. This was thought particularly fitting since it sounds very much like the French m'aidez, which means "help me." ["The Wireless Age," June 1923]

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • Mayday — kommer fra det franske ord m aidez, som betyder hjælp mig …   Danske encyklopædi

  • mayday — /mei dɛi/, it. /mei dɛi/ interiez. e s. ingl. [tratto dal fr. m aider! aiutarmi! ], usato in ital. come s.m. 1. (telecom.) [segnale usato internazionalmente nelle comunicazioni radiotelefoniche per chiedere aiuto] ▶◀ ‖ s.o.s. 2. (estens.)… …   Enciclopedia Italiana

  • mayday — /ingl. ˈmeɪˌdeɪ/ [vc. ingl., corrispondente alla pronuncia del fr. (venez) m aider! «(venite ad) aiutarmi!»] s. m. inv. S.O.S., richiesta di aiuto, segnale di soccorso …   Sinonimi e Contrari. Terza edizione

  • Mayday — ► NOUN ▪ an international radio distress signal used by ships and aircraft. ORIGIN from the pronunciation of French m aidez help me …   English terms dictionary

  • Mayday — [mā′dā΄] n. [prob. short for Fr (venez) m aider, (come) help me] the international radiotelephone signal for help, used by ships and aircraft in distress …   English World dictionary

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