Etymologically presents
Christmas Etymologies
Yule logs and wassail bowls, mistletoe and gingerbread, and the surprises wrapped up in everyday words. Pour something warm, pull up a chair by the fire, and unwrap a few.
The words of the season
Where the names of the holiday, and the figures who come with it, came from.
- Old English Christmas from Crīstes mæsse “Christ’s mass” Literally the mass, or church festival, of Christ. The X of Xmas is no modern shortcut: it is the Greek letter chi, the first letter of Khristos, used as an abbreviation for Christ for centuries. Read the full etymology →
- Old English Yule from geōl, Old Norse jól The name of a pagan midwinter feast, which the Christian festival took over. Its own origin is unknown. Old for centuries, it came back into fashion with the 19th-century revival of Yule logs and old customs. Read the full etymology →
- late 14th century Noel from French Noël, Latin natalis From Latin natalis (dies), “birthday”, the same root as native and nativity. In English it was first a shout of joy, as in the refrain of a carol, before it was a name for Christmas itself. Read the full etymology →
- 12th century Advent from Latin adventus “arrival” The coming, from advenire, “to come to”. It names the weeks of waiting before Christmas, and it shares a root with adventure, at first simply “what is about to happen to you”. Read the full etymology →
- 14th century Epiphany from Greek epipháneia “appearance” The feast of 6 January, marking the appearance of Christ to the Magi. The “sudden flash of insight” that we now call an epiphany is a 19th-century borrowing from the feast. Read the full etymology →
- c. 1300 carol from Old French carole First a ring dance, with the dancers singing as they went. It may go back through Latin to a Greek word for a flute player who accompanied a choral dance. Carols were attached to Christmas from about 1500. Read the full etymology →
- c. 1200 wassail from Old Norse ves heill “be healthy” A drinking toast: one said wæs hæil, “be well”, and the answer was drinc hæil, “drink well”. The word moved on to the spiced ale that was drunk, and then to going from door to door singing. Read the full etymology →
- Old English merry from myrge “pleasing” At first merry meant “pleasant, agreeable”, not “jovial”: Merry England was a pleasant land, not a drunken one. Merry Christmas is recorded from the 16th century. Read the full etymology →
- 1773 Santa Claus from Dutch Sinterklaas First recorded in a New York newspaper. It comes from a dialect form of Dutch Sint Nikolaas, Saint Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop whose feast on 6 December was kept by the Dutch in New Amsterdam. Read the full etymology →
- late 14th century reindeer from Old Norse hreindýri Nothing to do with reins. Old Norse hreinn already meant “reindeer”; dýr was simply “animal”, the cousin of English deer, which itself once meant any wild beast. Read the full etymology →
- 1703 sleigh from Dutch slee An American word, borrowed from the Dutch settlers of New York. Dutch slee is a contraction of slede, a cousin of English sled and sledge. Read the full etymology →
Deck the halls
The greenery, the lights and the visitors.
- Old English mistletoe from misteltān “mistletoe twig” Mistel was the plant, and tān a twig. Mistel may be related to an old word for dung, since the seeds are spread in birds’ droppings. Kissing under it is first described in the early 19th century. Read the full etymology →
- Old English holly from holegn Old English holegn lost its final n over the centuries. Despite the season, it has nothing to do with holy; its relatives include Welsh celyn. Read the full etymology →
- 1836 poinsettia from Joel Roberts Poinsett Named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States minister to Mexico, who sent the plant home to South Carolina. Read the full etymology →
- Old English candle from Latin candela From Latin candere, “to shine, glow”. The same root gives candid and incandescent, and candidates, who wore shining white togas. Read the full etymology →
- c. 1300 chimney from Old French cheminée From Late Latin caminata, from caminus “furnace”, a borrowing of Greek kaminos. For a long time a chimney was the fireplace itself, not the flue above it. Read the full etymology →
- Old English angel from Greek ángelos “messenger” A messenger, used in the Greek Bible to translate the Hebrew word for a messenger of God. Evangelist, the bringer of good news, comes from the same word. Read the full etymology →
- late 14th century frankincense from Old French franc encens Simply “pure incense”. Franc meant “free”, and so noble and of the best quality: in the kingdom of the Franks, only Franks were fully free. Read the full etymology →
- mid-13th century solstice from Latin solstitium From sol “sun” and sistere “to stand still”: around the winter solstice the sun seems to stop moving south at midday before it turns back. Read the full etymology →
The Christmas table
Food and drink, and where their names were cooked up.
- c. 1300 gingerbread from Old French gingebras There was no bread in it: it was preserved ginger, from Medieval Latin gingimbratus “gingered”. The ending was reshaped into -bread by speakers who assumed it must be one, and the cake followed in the 15th century. Read the full etymology →
- 1775 eggnog from egg + nog Nog was a strong ale brewed in East Anglia, of unknown origin. Rum, brandy and cream replaced the ale; the egg stayed. Read the full etymology →
- 1540s turkey from Turkey-cock First the guinea fowl, which reached Europe through the lands of the Turks. When the larger American bird arrived, it was mistaken for the same kind and took over the name. Read the full etymology →
- c. 1300 pudding from perhaps Old French boudin The first puddings were sausages: a stomach or intestine stuffed with meat and boiled. The sweet dessert came only in the 1670s. Read the full etymology →
- late 14th century mince from Old French mincier To cut into small pieces, from Latin minutia “smallness”, the root of minute. Mince pies held chopped meat long before they held only dried fruit. Read the full etymology →
- 1630s punch from traditionally Hindi pañc “five” Traditionally named for its five ingredients (spirit, water, sugar, lemon and spice), learned by English sailors and merchants in India, though the explanation is not proven. Read the full etymology →
Unwrapped
Ordinary words with something unexpected inside, once you take the paper off.