Journey

Journey (through O. Fr. jornee or journee, mod. Fr. journée, from med. Lat. diurnata, Lat. diurnus, of or belonging to dies, day), properly that which occupies a day in its performance, and so a day’s work, particularly a day’s travel, and the distance covered by such, usually reckoned in the middle ages as twenty miles. The word is now used of travel covering a certain amount of distance or lasting a certain amount of time, frequently defined by qualifying words. “Journey” is usually applied to travel by land, as opposed to “voyage,” travel by sea. The early use of “journey” for a day’s work, or the amount produced by a day’s work, is still found in glassmaking, and also at the British Mint, where a “journey” is taken as equivalent to the coinage of 15 ℔ of standard gold, 701 sovereigns, and of 60 ℔ of silver. The term “journeyman” also preserves the original significance of the word. It distinguishes a qualified workman or mechanic from an “apprentice” on the one hand and a “master” on the other, and is applied to one who is employed by another person to work at his trade or occupation at a day’s wage.