Yule

sb. Forms: 1 ʓeol, ʓeochol, ʓeoh(h)ol, -el, ʓeh(h)ol, ʓehhel, ʓeola, iula, 2 iol, 2–4 ȝol (yol), 3 ȝeol, 4 ȝool, 4–5 ȝole, 5 ȝoil(l, yoyll(e, ȝowle, yowle, youle, yole, yoole, ȝwle, (yold(e), 5–7 ȝule, 6 ȝoile, ȝuill, ȝull, ȝowill, -ell, ȝoull, ȝeoll, (ewle), 6–7 yeul, yewl, yool, yuill, ȝuil, (ule, 9 yuhl), 6– yule. Also dial. (in comb.) 7 yew, 7–8 yu, u. [The modern form descends from OE. ʓeól, earlier ʓeoh(h)ol, ʓeh(h)ol, also ʓeóla sometimes pl.) Christmas day or Christmastide, and in phr. se ǽrra ʓeóla December, se æftera ʓeóla January; corresp. to ON. jól pl. a heathen feast lasting twelve days, (later) Christmas. An Old Anglian ʓiuli, recorded by Bede (see quot. 726 in sense 1) as the name of December and January, corresponds to ON. ýlir month beginning on the second day of the week falling within Nov. 10–17, and Goth. jiuleis in fruma jiuleis November. The ultimate origin of the Teut. types *jeul- (jeʓul-) and *jeχul- :— pre-Teut. *jeq^wl- is obscure.]

  † 1.  December or January. Obs.

726.  Bæda, De Temp. Rat., xv. De Mensibus Anglorum … Primusque eorum mensis, quem Latini Januarium vocant, dicitur Giuli…. December Giuli, eodem quo Januarius nomine, vocatur…. Menses Giuli a conversione solis in auctum diei, quia unus eorum præcedit, alius subsequitur, nomina accipiunt.

a. 900.  O. E. Martyrol, 1 Jan., 12. Ianuarius, þæt is on ure ʓeþeode se æftera ʓeola. Ibid., 10 Dec., 216. Se monað ys nemned on leden Decembris ond on ure ʓeþeode se ærra ʓeola.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 1910–15. Crist wass borenn i þiss lif Wiþinnen Ȝoless moneþþ,… þatt wass o þe fiffte daȝȝ Att twenntiȝ daȝhess ende Off Ȝol.

  2.  Christmas and the festivities connected therewith. (Still the name in Sc. and north. dial.; since c. 1850 also a literary archaism in Eng.)

a. 900.  O. E. Martyrol, 6 May, 76. Feowertiʓ daʓa ær Criste acennisse, þæt is ær ʓeolum [v.r. ʓyhhelum].

c. 900.  trans. Beda’s Hist., IV. xix. (1890), 318. Þy twelftan deʓe ofer Ʒeochol [v.rr. ʓeohol, ʓeohhel].

a. 901.  Laws of Ælfred, § 43. xii daʓas on ʓehhol [v.rr. ʓehol, ʓehhel, ʓeol].

12[?].  Charter of Eadweard, an. 1067, in Kemble, Cod. Dipl., IV. 209. Ealle ða gyltes ða belimpeð to mine kinehelme inne Iol and inne Easterne.

13[?].  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 284. I craue … a crystemas gomen, For hit is ȝol & nwe ȝer.

1338.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 49. Þe kyng one on þe morn went to London, His ȝole forto hold was his encheson.

c. 1425.  Engl. Conq. Irel. (1896), 42. Seynt Tomas-ys day, Apostle, ys þe fyft day afor yold.

c. 1440.  Bone Flor., 1897. Of seynt Hyllary the churche ys, The twenty day of yowle y wys.

c. 1450.  Merlin, vi. 96. The kynge is now deed sithe Martin-masse, and fro hens to yoole is but litill space.

1533.  Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844), I. 149. At the natiuite of our Lord, callit zowill.

1536.  Bellenden, Cron. Scot., XIII. xiv. (1821), II. 340. Quhen he wes sittand with his modir, on the Epiphany Day, at his yuill.

a. 1580.  Sir R. Maitland, Sat. Age, 45. Thai … yat held grit ȝulis.

1589.  Warner, Alb. Eng., V. xxiv. 108. At Ewle we wonten, gambole, daunce, to carrole, and to sing.

1637.  Bk. Com. Prayer Scotland, Table Proper Ps., Yule, or Christmas day.

1644.  in Row, Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.), p. xxix. Knowing that the superstitious dayis of Yool was approching.

1753.  Stewart’s Trial, App. 61. About Yule last.

1794.  Burns, Bonie Peggy Ramsay, i. And dawin’ it is dreary, When birks are bare at Yule.

1816.  Scott, Antiq., xxii. Ye ken a green Yule makes a fat kirk-yard.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., xxviii. They bring me sorrow touch’d with joy, The merry merry bells of Yule.

1878.  Susan Phillips, On Seaboard, 74. And many a Yule since … You chose a spray all brightly berried over.

  ¶ Yule of August, Lammas Yule: the festival of Lammas, the first of August. Obs.

  This use has arisen from confusion of this word with GULE sb.² (Lammas Day).

1643.  Hammond, Let. Resol. Sir Quæres, vi. § 65. 465. Gula Augusti, or the Yule of August.

a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies, Northumbld. (1662), II. 304. It [sc. Yule] is a name general for festivals, as Lammas Yule, &c.

  † 3.  Used as an exclamation of joy or revelry at the Christmas festivities. Obs.

1546.  J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 28. It is easy to cry vle at other mens coste.

a. 1568.  in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club), 380. It is eith [pr. dith] to cry yule [Maitl. Fo. MS. hailȝule] On ane vder manis coist.

1661.  Blount, Glossogr., s.v. Ule, In Yorkshire and our other Northern parts, they have an old Custom, after Sermon or Service on Christmas day, the people will, even in the Churches cry Vle, Vle,… and the common people run about the streets singing Ule, Ule, Ule, Three Puddings in a Pule, Crack nuts and cry Ule.

1737.  Ramsay, Sc. Prov. (1750), 58. It is eith crying yool on anither man’s stool.

1853.  W. Sandys, Christmastide, 143. In some places it seems to have been the custom to dance in the country churches, after prayers, crying out, ‘Yole, yole, yole!’ &c.

  4.  attrib. and Comb., as yule banquet, batch, common (COMMON sb.¹ 8), fare, feast, hearth, night [cf. ON. jólanótt], time; locally applied to articles of food made specially for Christmas, as yule-bread, -cake, -dough, -loaf (see quots.); also yule-block = yule-log; yule-candle = Christmas candle (CHRISTMAS 4); yule-clog = yule-log; yule-game, a Christmas game or sport; † a frolic, gambol; † yule-girth [see GRITH sb. 6; cf. ON. jólagrið], the peace of Christmas; yule-log, a large log of wood burnt on the hearth at Christmas; yule-song dial., a Christmas carol; † yule-stock (a) [? STOCK sb.¹ 20, 47], ? contribution to Christmas festivities; (b) = yule-log; yule-tide [cf. ON. jólatíð), the season of Yule, Christmas-tide; † yule-waiting (yolwayting) [app. ON. veiting, WAITING vbl. sb.²], app. a due paid by bondmen at Christmas; † yule-waitstand (yolwayte-), ? the place where the waits (WAIT sb. 8 a) stood at Christmas; † yule-work (Sc. ȝeoll vark), ? preparations for Christmas festivities.

1629.  Orkney Witch Trial, in N. B. Advertiser, Oct. (1894). If ever the guidman of the hous sould mak and other *yull bankett.

1674.  Ray, N. C. Words, *Yu-batch.

1796.  Pegge, Derbicisms (E.D.S.), U-back, U-block. See Yu-batch … Yu-bach.

a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies, Northumberland (1662), II. 304. The Northern parts call Christmas Yule, (hence the *Yule-block, *Yule-cakes [pr. oakes], Yule-songs, &c.).

1820.  Sporting Mag. (N.S.), VI. 283. Yule Cake, a kind of spiced cake, often supplies the place of gingerbread.

1884.  Besant, Dor. Forster, xiii. The tables were covered with Yule-cakes, which are, in the north, shaped like a baby, and Christmas pies in form of a cradle.

1808.  Jamieson, s.v. The candle, that is lighted on Yule, must be so large as to burn from the time of its being lighted till the day be done…. Hence large candles are by the vulgar called *Yule candles.

1820.  Sporting Mag. (N.S.), VI. 283. The yule candle, a tall mould candle, is lighted and set on the table.

1725.  Bourne, Antiq. Vulg., xiii., in Brand, Pop. Antiq., xiii. (1777), 155. Our Fore-Fathers … were wont … to lay a Log of Wood upon the Fire, which they termed a *Yule Clog, or Christmas-Block.

1836.  R. Furness, Astrol., III. Wks. (1858), 163. When ample yule-clogs lent their heat and light, And all-spiced possets warm’d the Christmas night.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., lxxviii. The yule-clog sparkled keen with frost.

a. 1614.  J. Melvill, Autob. & Diary (Wodrow Soc.), 274. That *Yuill comoun they thought to repey weill now at Pasch.

1777.  Brand, Pop. Antiq., 163. The *Yule-Dough,… a Kind of Baby or little Image of Paste, which our Bakers used formerly to bake at this season, and present to their customers.

1887.  Jesse M. E. Saxby, Lads of Lunda, 210. Such bounty, in the form of *Yule-fare, as the folks are pleased to bestow.

a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies, Northumbld. (1662), II. 304. A *Yule feast may be quat at Pasche. That is Christmas-cheer may be digested, and the party hungry again at Easter.

a. 1774.  Fergusson, Geordie & Davie, 14, Poems (1789), II. 6. For the Yule-feast a sautit mart’s prepar’d.

1611.  Cotgr., Gambade, a gamboll, *yew-game, tumbling tricke.

1632.  Sherwood, A yew-game, or yeule-game, gambade.

1615.  R. Cocks, Diary (Hakl. Soc.), I. 93. The shipps company … plaied Christmas ule games in good sort.

1621.  Burton, Anat. Mel., II. ii. IV. 346. Masks, singing, dancing, vlegames.

1674.  Ray, N. C. Words, Yu-game.

1569–70.  Rec. Inverness (New Spalding Club), I. 182. For breking of *Yule gerthe and trubling of the towne.

16[?].  in F. Drake, Eboracum, I. vi. (1736), 197. The fower serjeants shall go and ride … and so go forth to the lower barrs of the citty and blow the youle-girthe. Ibid. To make proclamation at the pillory of the Yoole-girthol.

1656.  Mennis & J. Smith, Mus. Delic. (ed. 2), 23. Thrice had all New-yeares Guests their *yewl guts fill’d With embalm’d Veal, buried in Christmas Past.

1848.  Lytton, Harold, IV. vi. We strip not the green leaves for our *yule-hearths.

1729.  Walkden, Diary (1866), 85. A *yule loaf, 3d.

1725.  Bourne, Antiq. Vulg., xiii., in Brand, Pop. Antiq. (1777), 157. I am apt to believe, the Log has had the Name of the *Yule-Log, from its being burnt as an Emblem of the returning Sun.

1848.  Longf., K. Witlaf’s Drinking-horn, viii. The Yule-log cracked in the chimney.

1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 4648. Howe God was bore yn *ȝole nyght.

c. 1325.  Metr. Hom., 101. On feld thar thai woc on yol niht.

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 342. Betuix none of the day and Ȝule nicht.

1792.  Burns, Duncan Gray, i. On blythe yule night when we were fu’.

a. 1661.  *Yule songs [see yule-block].

1876.  Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Yule-sangs, s. pl. Christmas carols.

1282.  Yorksh. Inquis. (Yorks. Rec. Soc., 1892), I. 244. [The same pays 12d. at Christmas, which is called] *Yolstoch.

c. 1480.  Henryson, Sum Practysis Med., 77 (Bann. MS.). With thre crawis of the cok, The schadow of ane ȝule stok, Is gud for þe host.

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 4. Quhair Empreouris and Erlis, and vther mony ane, Turnit fra Sanct Thomas befoir the *ȝule tyde.

1860.  Longf., Wayside Inn, I. Musician’s T., XII. ii. Three days his Yule-tide feasts He held.

1787.  W. Taylor, Poems, 44. About *Yule-time an’ Hogmenai.

1864.  Prior, in Athenæum, 2 Jan., 10/2. [Mistletoe] ripened its snow-white fruit just at Yule-time.

1183.  Boldon Bk. (Surtees), 20. Dant cum villanis partem suam de scat et de metride et de *yolwayting.

c. 1380.  Bp. Hatfield’s Surv. (Surtees), 22. Iidem tenentes red. p. a. pro yolwayting, ad festum Nativitatis Domini, 5s.

1413–14.  Boldon Bk. (Surtees), Gloss. p. lxxii. De quadam placca vocata *Yolewaytestand.

1540.  Rec. Elgin (New Spald. Cl., 1903), I. 47. Dauid Hardy … sall pay ane stane wax to the nixt *Zeoll vark.

  Hence Yule v., intr. to keep Christmas. Sc. and north. dial.

a. 1670.  Spalding, Troub. Chas. I. (Bannatyne Club), I. 39. The lords refuised to lett the lady marchioness go to the castle with her husband, except she would waird also, and with great intreatie had the favour, to Yule with him, but to stay no longer.

1828.  Craven Gloss., Yuling, Christmas feasting.