Beyond Words

Etymology of NOËL

December 22nd, 2008 by Maria, Contributing Writer


NOËL
Another term signifying the holiday season, Noël comes to us from the Latin verb nasci, meaning “to be born.”

In the book of Ecclesiastes, the birth of Jesus is called natalis. A variation of this word, nael, made its way into Old French as a reference to the Christmas season and later into Middle English as nowel.

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