At 06:17 PM 04/20/2000 +0000, Shashi Chopra wrote:
>I wonder how the phrase 'Cloud Nine' was started and who was the first
>person to coin this? Why 'Nine'?, why not some other number? Any site to
>get the history of a phrase by Email?
Although Dave Wilton's Etymology Page at <http://www.wilton.net/etyma1.htm>
says:
> Cloud Nine
> Cloud Nine is of unknown origin or significance. It is an Americanism dating
> to the 1950s--other than that we don't know anything of its origin.
> Various tales have been attached to the phrase due to the number nine. But
> are certainly false because in the phrase's early days other numbers were
> often used, most commonly seven, sometimes thirty-nine. A 1930s quote uses
> Cloud Eight to refer to being drunk (which hints that the phrase may be
> considerably older than the 1950s). The probable meaning is simply a
> generalization of "out there" with no specific intent.
I think it might well be a reference to the nine choirs or orders of
angels, ranked here
in hierarchical order:
Seraphim
Cherubim
Thrones
Dominions
Virtues
Powers
Principalities
Archangels
Angels
A position on "Cloud Nine" would put you with the Seraphim who are the highest
order of angels before God's throne...surely a blissful place. :-)
Kathleen
