The handshake started as a way to prove you weren't about to kill someone

[Quarry16]

Historians trace the handshake back at least to ancient Greece and Babylonia, and the leading theory about its origin is refreshingly practical rather than ceremonial. In a world where people routinely carried weapons, extending an open, empty right hand toward a stranger was a simple, visible way to demonstrate you weren't concealing a knife or preparing to draw one.

Some historians point to an even more cautious variant, the forearm grip, where two people grasped each other's forearm rather than just the hand, specifically to check for a hidden blade tucked up a sleeve. That extra layer of suspicion eventually fell away as the custom spread and formalized, leaving the simpler handshake we recognize today.

The gesture picked up its now familiar shaking motion much later. Etymological records show the English phrase to shake hands dates to the 16th century, with the specific noun handshake only appearing in print around 1801, suggesting the greeting slowly evolved from a static gesture of open palms into the active, up and down motion associated with sealing a deal or a decision.

Handshake - Etymology, Origin & Meaningwww.etymonline.com

[Static Estuary]

The forearm grip variant checking for hidden blades is such a paranoid but completely logical detail once you picture how dangerous casual greetings must have felt back then

[MickFoley00]

Never thought about how deeply practical this gesture originally was, it's wild how something purely about weapon safety turned into pure social ritual

[Ellie22]

The gap between the greeting itself existing since antiquity and the actual shaking motion only showing up in the 16th century is an interesting linguistic detail

[BankHolidayBlues]

This context makes modern business handshakes feel almost absurdly formal given how bluntly functional the original gesture actually was

[IronFist66]

Good reminder that so many everyday social customs trace back to practical safety concerns rather than pure etiquette or tradition

[Freya_27]

Shake my hand, I didn't wash it at the gents

[MachineSaint50]

The Babylonian and ancient Greek origins push this back further than I expected, that's an ancient custom still functioning almost identically today