Noel - Daily Life By Design

I was out Christmas shopping a few days ago and while I was looking at some holiday house decorations, I overhead a little boy ask his mom what does Noel mean. The mom told him she didn’t know but, “It has to do with Christmas”. By the time I got home, I thought I would do a little research and find out a bit more information about Noel the other word for “The Christmas Season”.

Noel is a noun and it has three meanings:

The Christmas Season; yuletide
(lowercase) a Christmas song or carol
a male given name

Noël the noun is Anglo-Norman and Middle-French and ( Modern French) there is proof of varient forms such as Naël as far back as the beginning of the 12 century. This form comes from the Latin adjective natalis, meaning of, or belonging to, one’s birth. The noun use (from natalis dies, day of birth) denoted a birthday, an anniversary, a commemorative festival, hence in ecclesiastical Latin the festival of the nativity of Christ, Christmas. In English, Noel has not been in standard use in the sense of Christmas, but it has been attested as a surname and male forename in England since the 12th century. In the early 14th century, from its use, as a word shouted or sung to commemorate the birth of Christ, French Noël became an interjection expressing joy. This latter use first appeared in English in The Franklin’s Tale, by the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (circa 1342-1400).