1 January 2019
Hogmanay is a Scottish dialect word for New Year’s Eve or a present given, especially to children, on that day. The word is recorded in Latin as early as 1443:
Et solutum xxxj die decembris magn. hagnonayse xijd. et parv. hagnonayse viijd.
(And paying on the thirty-first day of December a great hogmanay of twelve pence and a small hogmanay of eight pence.)
It’s use in English is recorded in 1604:
William Pattoun delatit to haue been singand hagmonayis on Satirday.
The origin of Hogmanay is not certain, but it most likely comes from the Middle French aguillanneuf or a variant thereof. The Scottish-French alliance of the late sixteenth century introduced a number of French words into Scottish dialect, and this is likely one of them. The first element of the French word is unknown, but the final element is likely a variation on l’an neuf (the new year).
Sources:
American Heritage Dictionary, fifth edition, 2018, s. v. Hogmanay.
Dictionary of the Scots Language, s. v. hogmanay, n.
Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, November 2010, s. v. hogmanay, n.