You can sum up the five major stages of a man’s life by using Christmas imagery:
1. He believes in Santa Claus.
2. He doesn’t believe in Santa Claus.
3. He dresses up to look like Santa Claus.
4. He looks like Santa Claus.
5. He thinks he’s Santa Claus.
Among the most fascinating Christmas word histories are those for Santa Claus and Kriss Kringle. When the Dutch came to the New World, the figure of St. Nicholas, their patron saint, was on the first ship. After the Dutch lost control of New Amsterdam to the English in the 17th century, Sinterklaas (a form of St. Nikolaas) gradually became anglicized into Santa Claus and acquired some of the features of the English Father Christmas.
Father Christmas is based on a real person, St. Nicholas, who was a Christian leader from Myra (in modern-day Turkey) in the 4th century A.D. He was shy and wanted to give money to poor people anonymously. It is said that one day he climbed the roof of a house and dropped a purse of money down the chimney. It landed in a stocking that a girl had put out to dry by the fire. This explains the belief that Father Christmas comes down the chimney and places gifts in children’s stockings.
Kriss Kringle reflects an even more dramatic change from one language to another. The Germans and German-speaking Swiss who settled in Pennsylvania in the early 18th century held the custom that the Christ child, “the Christkindl,” brought gifts for the children on Christmas Eve.
When these Pennsylvania German (also known as Pennsylvania Dutch) communities were joined by English-speaking settlers, the Christkindl became Kriss Kringle. By the 1840s, Kriss Kringle had irretrievably taken on the identity of St. Nicholas, or Santa Claus. Slogans such as “Put the Christ back in Christmas” were coined in an effort to remind people of the holiday’s origin.
Of the various plants associated with the Christmas season, the poinsettia possesses the most intriguing history etymologically. A Mexican legend tells of a penniless boy who presented to the Christ child a beautiful plant with scarlet leaves that resembled the Star of Bethlehem, Flor de la Noche Buena, “Flower of the Holy Night.”
Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. minister to Mexico, discovered the Christmas flower there in 1828 and brought it to this country, where it was named in his honor in 1836. The poinsettia has become one of the most popular of Christmas plants — and one of the most misspelled and mispronounced words in the English language. Pointsettia, pointsetta and poinsettia are all misspellings and mispronunciations. The cultivated spelling and sounding are poinsettia: poyn-SET-ee-uh.
Another outgrowth of Christmas botany is the pear tree. In the seasonal song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” have you ever wondered why the true love sends not only a partridge, but an entire pear tree? That’s because in the early French version of the song the suitor proffered only a partridge, which in French is rendered as une pertriz. A 1718 English version combined the two — “a partridge, une pertriz” — which, slightly corrupted, came out sounding like “a partridge in a pear tree.” Through a process that linguists call folk etymology, the partridge has remained proudly perched in a pear tree (une pertriz) ever since.
Here’s a Merry Christmas to you from two other animals:
Cats greet each other at Christmas by saying, “Have a Furry Meowy Christmas!” Sheep say, “Season’s Bleatings and Fleece Navidad! Fleece on earth, good wool to men!”
Please send your questions and comments about language to richard.lederer@utsandiego.com www.verbivore.com