Our Word for Wednesday theme for December is words you only hear at Christmas. Over December, we’ve looked at the words carol, tidings and merry. Our final word for 2022 is yule. The words yule and yuletide are old-fashioned terms for Christmas and the festive season which takes place from December 24th to January 6th. The word yuletide dates to the fifteenth century while yule dates to the seventeenth century. Yule comes from the Old English ‘geol’ meaning ‘Chrismastide’, which in comes from an Old Norse name for the winter feast ‘jol’. Some sources propose that the Old Norse e...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for December is words you only hear at Christmas. So far, we’ve looked at the words carol and tidings. Today’s word is merry. The word merry is used to describe something that is cheerful, fun, and lively. Like the word tidings in last week’s blog post, merry pops ups in Christmas songs and greetings but seems to hide away for the rest of the year. The word comes from the Old English ‘myrge’ meaning ‘pleasing’ or ‘sweet’. ‘Myrge’ comes from the Proto-Germanic ‘murgijaz’ which likely meant ‘short-lasting’ and comes from t...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for December is words you only hear at Christmas. Last week, we looked at the word carol and today’s word is tidings. Tidings is another word for news and dates to around 1200. The word appears in the song We Wish You A Merry Christmas: We wish you a merry Christmas We wish you a merry Christmas We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year Good tidings we bring to you and your kin We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year When used in relation to Christmas, the term good tidings refers to the good news about the birth of Christ. The word comes from the Old English word ‘tidan’ meanin...
It’s time to return to our Christmassy Words for Wednesday! In the past we’ve looked at decorations and festive food and drink, and our Word for Wednesday theme for December is words you only hear at Christmas. Our first word for the month is carol. A carol is a joyful religious song which usually celebrates the birth of Christ (though can be about other seasons). Famous Christmas carols include: O Holy Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, and Oh Come All Ye Faithful. The word dates to around 1300 when it described a ‘joyful song’ or a ‘dance in a ring’ and came to be used in reference to Christmas hymns from around 1...
Here at Spellzone, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! And along with the decorations box and that Michael Bublé album, we’re finding ourselves using certain words that only come out at this time of year. Let’s take a closer at some Christmas-related words and where they come from: Carol While the word ‘carol’ can refer to religious hymns from all seasons, many people associate the word with Christmas songs in particular. Around 1300 the word referred to both a ‘joyful song’ and a ‘dance in a ring’, and it came to be used in reference to Christmas hymns from around 1500. ‘Carol’ comes from the Old F...
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