Good felow god you saue, or o louynge frende god rest you mery. The first time that 'God rest you merry' was put into print was also from a Latin translation, this time Nicholas Udall's Floures for Latine Spekynge gathered oute of Terence: 'Rest ye merry' was used as early as 1300, in Old English, in the popular romantic tale Floris and Blauncheflur.Ī more readable version is found in the Latin dictionary Bibliotheca Eliotae, edited and published by the English Bishop Thomas Cooper in 1548:īee thou gladde: or joyfull, as the vulgare people saie Reste you mery. What's the origin of the phrase 'God rest you merry gentlemen'?Īpart from being the title of a carol, the expression 'God rest you merry gentlemen' is notable for being almost universally misunderstood.Ī clue to a proper reading of the line is that the phrases 'rest ye merry' and 'God rest ye merry' were commonplace expressions of goodwill in Medieval England. The expression is no longer used other than as the title and first line of the popular Christmas Carol. 'God rest you (or ye) merry gentlemen' means 'Gentlemen, may god keep you in harmony and happiness'.
The sayings of Nicholas Udall What's the meaning of the phrase 'God rest you merry gentlemen'?.Come per tutti i canti molto popolari tuttavia esistono molte varianti testuali. La prima e l’ultima strofa sono rivolti all’uditorio moderno come delle esortazioni, la prima a comportarsi rettamente e l’ultima a scambiarsi un segno di pace la storia nel mezzo è quella dell’annuncio della lieta novella ai pastori e del loro omaggio a Gesù Bambino. Tuttavia molti studiosi ritengono che il brano abbia origini nel 1500 e che il primo testo simile sia Sit You, Merry Gentlemen (Bodleian Library – ca 1650)
La carol pubblicata da William Sandys nel 1823, resta di autore anonimo: si riesce a risalire al 1700 per quanto concerne le sue prime pubblicazioni, nelle quali compare con la dicitura “New Christmas carol” che potrebbe far pensare alle sue origini più recenti, con l’aggiunta nel testo di qualche arcaismo per farlo sembrare più antico, come quel ye del titolo che sta al posto di You. Il libro è una vivida descrizione delle tradizioni natalizie inglesi alla metà dell’Ottocento con l’avaro senza cuore Ebenezer Scrooge che fa un esame della sua vita accompagnato da tre Spiriti del Natale.ĭickens descrive le strade di Londra avvolte nel freddo e gelido Inverno, con i negozi decorati con rami di agrifoglio, i carolers che cantano per le strade nel giorno delle Vigilia e quello del Natale. All others were.Į’ questa la canzone cui allude nel titolo il Canto di Natale (A Christmas Carol) di Charles Dickens. ***This is the most complete video version that has been found. Yet to completely uncover the final key to solving this mystery of meaning, a comma needs to be placed after the word “merry.” Therefore, in modern English, the first line of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” should read “God make you mighty, gentlemen.” Using this translation, the old carol suddenly makes perfect sense, as does the most common saying of the holidays, “Merry Christmas.” The word rest in “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” simply means keep or make. This is due to another word that has a much different meaning in today’s world and a lost punctuation mark. Ye means you, but even when translated to “God rest you mighty gentlemen,” the song still makes very little sense. So when the English carolers of the Victorian era sang, “merry gentlemen,” they meant great or mighty men. Thus, in the Middle Ages, a strong army was a merry army, a great singer was a merry singer, and a mighty ruler was a merry ruler. Robin Hood’s “Merry Men” might have been happy, but the merry that described them meant great and mighty. When “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was written, merry had a very different meaning. When modern people say “Merry” Christmas, the word merry means happy.
0 kommentar(er)
