In these commercial times, when there are throngs of honeymooners at the typical honeymoon destination, it is questionable whether the average couple gets to celebrate their honeymoon in "seclusion" as the dictionary quotes.

Honeymoon can also be described as the first moments which the newly married couple spend together, or the first holiday they spend together to celebrate their marriage and love.

According to some sources, the honeymoon is a relic of marriage by capture, based on the practice of the husband going into hiding with his wife to avoid reprisals from her relatives, with the intention that the woman would be pregnant by the end of the month.

It has also been said [weasel words] that the origins of this word date back to the times of Babylon. In order to increase the virility and fertility of the newly-weds, the father of the bride would provide his son in law with all the mead (a honey-based drink) he could drink during the first month of the marriage.

Given that the English word is only four hundred years old, direct attribution to Babylon is questionable, though often repeated.

In many parts of Europe it was traditional to supply a newly married couple with enough mead for a month, ensuring happiness and fertility. From this practice we get honeymoon or, as the French say, lune de miel

There are many calques of the word honeymoon from English into other languages. The Welsh word for honeymoon is mis mêl (honey month). In Arabic it is shahr el 'assal also translated to honey month. The Spanish word for honeymoon is la luna de miel (the moon of honey), and the Italian luna di miele (same translation). The Persian (Farsi) word for it is mah e asal which has the both translations honeymoon and honey month, mah in Persian meaning both moon and month).