The kids in the neighborhood (and at work) are busily preparing for a free candy feast and I am letting Grammar Girl do all of the work today. From Mignon Fogarty’s Quick and Dirty Tips:
Why Do You Sometimes See an Apostrophe in Hallowe’en?
One early spelling of Halloween was All Hallows’ Even, in which even meant "evening." The all and s got dropped, hallows’ and even became a closed compound, and the apostrophe took the place of the v, giving us Hallowe’en—just one of many transitional spellings along the way to Halloween, which the Oxford English Dictionary shows as first appearing in 1786. Other spellings before Halloween included Hallow-e’en, Alhollon Eue, and Halhalon evyn.
Kara Church
Technical Editor, Advisory
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