December 01, 2005

Important Word Note for the Christmas season...

Charlene has a book of Advent meditations, and she read me this:

The English word "merry" did not originally convey "jolly, mirthful." It was more along the lines of "blessed, peaceful"—a deep down inner joy rather than revelry.

One gets a sense of its original meaning in the well-known carol "God rest ye merry, gentlemen." As can be seen from the comma, the word is not used to describe jolly gentlemen, but rather it is a blessing from God invoked upon them—"God rest ye peacefully, gentlemen."

Thus, Merry Christmas," when spoken to one another, is a blessing...
* Update: This post seems to be in error. The definition does not appear in the OED. See comments. Posted by John Weidner at December 1, 2005 05:12 PM
Comments

So, it’s medieval for “have a safe and sane Christmas”?

Posted by: Andrew Cory at December 1, 2005 11:48 PM

What was the book of meditations? I'm curious, as I can't reconstruct a meaning like that from the few etymological things I can find...doesn't mean it ain't true, I just like to follow things like this to ground.

Posted by: Doug in Colorado at December 2, 2005 09:21 AM

Here's the link, "little blue book".

I ought to look it up in OED, but probably won't find the time...Maybe it's just a "Christmas Urban Legend."

Posted by: John Weidner at December 2, 2005 11:07 AM

Just looked it up in the OED, and didn't see anything that would corroborate this...the only strange meaning is that is apparently once meant "short" in some way, then became "pleasant"...though it's a long entry, maybe I missed something...

Posted by: Ethan Hahn at December 3, 2005 06:32 PM

God will smite you for doubting!

Actually, sounds like we are in Urban Legend territory...another story too good to check.

Posted by: John Weidner at December 4, 2005 09:45 AM
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