Reddit mentions of Twas The Night Before Christmas: Edited By Santa Claus for the Benefit of Children of the 21st Century

Halloween is my birthday, so I've had a personal interest in knowing the answer to this and have researched it often.

In your title you are missing a step in the process of the current form of the word, Hallow-E'en. You are correct that the "n" comes from the word Evening. The contraction used is archaic now, but is commonly seen in older literary works and archaic usage. Other examples in this same light are never (ne'er), it is ('tis), it was, ('twas), etc.

The reason for the dropping of the hyphen first, and later the apostrophe, is a combination of ignorance and laziness. English language users favour simplification and employ contractions over time to two or more words into one. This is why like "dunno" from "I don't know" are easily understood and used frequently. This process has quickened with the more common use of technology and the ever-pressing need to be more efficient and faster at communicating coupled with laziness. The birth and popularization of textspeak is exactly this same phenomenon that helped evolve All Hallow's Evening into Halloween.

Additionally, within the last few decades, archaic contractions like 'Twas (It was) are seen in print without the apostrophe, like this bookcover, much more frequently. Will-of-the-wisp has evolved into many forms with or without the hyphens or the apostrophe replacing the "f" in of though "the" is entirely omitted now (will-o'-wisp, will-o-wisp, or will o' wisp) Very recently, I have even seen this phrase turned into willowisp as one straight word.

Hallow-E'en has taken the same path as this last example. All punctuation has disappeared. This is largely in part to people not understanding why it was there in the first place as each generation loses knowledge of the origin or purpose of the contraction. So as each Christmas poem is printed without the apostrophe, or Halloween without a hyphen or apostrophe, children learn not to use them in that way.

I hope that helps clear up your curiosity!

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amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

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