Know ChristmasSearch the book

VIII · Words

What does the word “Christmas” mean?

True storyHow to read this bookReads aloud in 5 minutesAdded to the book

The word Christmas means Christ’s Mass. It began in Old English as Cristes mæsse, the feast day when a special Mass was said for Christ, and English speakers were already using it in the early 1000s.

At a glance

  • From: Old English Cristes mæsse, “Christ’s Mass”
  • In use by: the early 1000s, in writings attributed to Archbishop Wulfstan of York
  • The “-mas”: an old word for a feast day with a Mass, as in Michaelmas
  • Another old English name: Yule

Christ’s Mass

In Old English, mæsse was the English form of the Latin missa, the church’s word for the Mass. It could also mean a feast day, the day a solemn Mass was said, and that is the sense in Christmas.

The “-mas” in Christmas is the same old word for a feast day that gave us Michaelmas, Saint Michael’s feast. Old English had others too, like Andrew’s Mass and Martin’s Mass.

How old the word is

The word is older than you might think. Writings attributed to Wulfstan, an archbishop of York who died in 1023, ask for the light-fee, a payment that kept the church’s lamps burning, to be paid at Christ’s Mass, Candlemas and Easter. That is one of the earliest known uses of the word, so English speakers were saying Christmas by the early 1000s.

You may read that the word was first written down in 1038. A Catholic encyclopedia of 1908 says so, but it names no text for that year, and the writings attributed to Wulfstan are older.

By the early 1100s, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was dating events “to Christ’s Mass” too.

Yule, the other old word

English has another old word for the season: Yule. In Old English it was geol, and it meant Christmas. The months on either side of it were “the earlier Yule” and “the later Yule”, our December and January.

No one is sure where the word Yule first came from. In Norway, Christmas is jul, from the Old Norse jól, a cousin of our Yule. Swedish says jul too.

Christmas in other languages

Other languages named the day in other ways.

  • In Italian, Christmas is Natale, from a Latin word meaning “having to do with birth”.
  • French Noël comes from the Latin natalis dies, the day of birth.
  • Spanish Navidad means the birth of Jesus, and the day it is celebrated.
  • German speakers say Weihnachten, the holy nights. It began as a phrase, “at the holy night”, more than 800 years ago, and the plural form, “the holy nights”, is on record in the 1200s.
  • In Polish, Christmas is Boże Narodzenie, God’s Birth.
  • Dutch speakers say Kerstmis. Kerst was the Middle Dutch name for Christ, and the word was on record, as Kersmisse, by 1432.

Why the X in “Xmas” stands for Christ has its own page.

Quick answers

What does the “mas” in Christmas mean?

It is the Old English word for the Mass, from the Latin missa, and it came to mean a feast day with a Mass. Christmas is Christ’s Mass.

How old is the word Christmas?

It was in use by the early 1000s, in writings attributed to Archbishop Wulfstan of York, who died in 1023.

Is Yule the same as Christmas?

In Old English, yes: geol, our Yule, was a word for Christmas.

What is Christmas called in other languages?

Natale in Italian and Noël in French, both from the Latin for birth; Weihnachten, the holy nights, in German; Boże Narodzenie, God’s Birth, in Polish.

More: how to say Merry Christmas in other languages, why it is written Xmas, where Christmas came from, Noël and Yule.

Where our facts come from

  1. Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online (Charles University, 2014), "mæsse", Entry "mæsse, messe": etymology ("From Low Latin missa"); sense 1 (a service of the church, mass); sense 2 ("a festival day when a solemn mass was celebrated, -mas in Christmas, Michaelmas"), with "Æfter Andréas mæssan", "Tó sanctae Michaheles mæssan", "Tó sancte Martines mæssan" and "Tó Cristes mæssan, 1104; Erl. 239, 13" (the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Earle's edition)
  2. Arthur Napier, ed., Wulfstan: Sammlung der ihm zugeschriebenen Homilien (Berlin: Weidmann, 1883), Internet Archive scan; with David Wilton, "Christmas / Xmas", Wordorigins.org, December 18, 2023, https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/christmas-xmas, Napier, p. 311, lines 9–11 ("and leohtgescot gelæste man be wite to Cristes mæssan and to candelmæssan and to eastron"); Wordorigins, paragraph 1 (the Old English word "isn't found in any extant text written prior to c. 1000"; "One of the earliest uses is by Wulfstan, the Archbishop of York (d. 1023)"); Wordorigins, the paragraph after the Old English quotation ("The leohtgescot (light-fee) was a contribution to keep the lights burning in the church"); Napier's preface, footnote 1 ("Wulfstan, Erzbischof von York (1002—1023)")
  3. C. C. Martindale, "Christmas", Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 3 (1908), Section "Origin of the word": "Cristes Maesse, the Mass of Christ, first found in 1038" (no text named); "in Latin Dies Natalis, whence comes the French Noël"; "The term Yule is of disputed origin"; "In Dutch it is Kerstmis"
  4. Bosworth and Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, "geól" and "geóla" (search results), Entry "GEÓL" ("YULE, Christmas; festum nativitatis Domini"); entry "Geóla" ("Se ǽrra geóla the ere, or former yule, December. Se æftera géóla the after yule, January")
  5. Bokmålsordboka (University of Bergen and the Language Council of Norway), "jul"; Lexin (KTH), Swedish "jul", Bokmålsordboka, article 27950: etymology "norr. jól"; "minnehøytid for Jesu fødsel 25. desember". Lexin: "jul", "helgen 24–26 december som firas till minne av Jesu födelse" (Uttryck "God jul!"); no etymology given
  6. Online Etymology Dictionary (Douglas Harper), "yule"; Cleasby and Vigfusson, An Icelandic-English Dictionary (1874), "jól", https://oldnorsedictionary.com/sv/word/jol, Etymonline, entry "yule (n.)", ¶1: "Old English geol, geola 'Christmas Day, Christmastide,' which is cognate with Old Norse jol (plural), the name of a heathen feast, later taken over by Christianity; the Germanic word is of unknown origin." Cleasby and Vigfusson, "jól", the bracket: "[A. S. geôl … The origin and etymology of the word Yule is much contested"
  7. Vocabolario Treccani, "natale", Etymology ("lat. natalis «natalizio, che riguarda la nascita»"); sense 2b (with a capital N, "il giorno celebrativo della nascita di Gesù Cristo (il 25 dicembre)")
  8. Dictionnaire de français Larousse, "Noël", Headword line ("Noël nom masculin (latin natalis dies, jour de la naissance)")
  9. Diccionario Espasa-Calpe, "navidad", via WordReference, Sense 1 ("Nacimiento de Jesucristo. Día en que se celebra")
  10. DWDS (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences), "Weihnachten", Etymologie (Wolfgang Pfeifer, Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen), "zusammengezogen aus mhd. diu wīhe naht bzw. dem Dativ Sing. ze (der) wīhen naht (2. Hälfte 12. Jh.), eigentlich 'heilige Nacht'"; "der aus dem Dativ Plur. mhd. ze den wīhen nahten gebildete Nominativ Plur. wīhenachten (13. Jh.)"
  11. Wiktionary, "Boże Narodzenie", Etymology (literally "God's Birth")
  12. M. Philippa et al., Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands (2003–2009), "kerst", at etymologiebank.nl, "Kersmisse 'kerstmis' [1432; MNW-R]"; "de eigennaam Kerst, de in het Middelnederlands ontstane naam voor 'Christus'"