Jól

As defined by the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary:

jól Old Norse word can mean:

jól

n. pl., in rhymes, gólig, Jóla, Ó. H. (in a verse); [A. S. geôl, sometimes used of the whole month of December, whereas December is also called æra geola = fore Yule, and January æftera geola = after Yule; the plur. in Icel. perhaps refers to this double month. The origin and etymology of the word Yule is much contested, and has been treated at length by Grimm (Gesch. der Deutschen Sprache), who tries to make out a relation between the Lat. Jūlus or Jūlius and the Teut. Yule, the one being a midsummer month, the other a midwinter month; like former etymologists, he also derives the word from hjól, a wheel, as referring to the sun’s wheeling round at midwinter and midsummer time. The resemblance of the words is striking, as also the old northern celebration of the midsummer feast Jónsvaka (see below), which was in fact a kind of midsummer Yule.]

jól

B. Yule, a great feast in the heathen time, afterwards applied to Christmas (as still in North. E.) In Icel. popular usage Yule-eve is a kind of landmark by which the year is reckoned, so that a man is as many years old as he has passed Yule nights, hafa lifað (so and so) margar Jóla-nætr; for the year counts from Yule night, whence the phrase, vera ílla or vel á ár kominn, to become well or ill in the year; thus a person born shortly before Yule is ‘ílla á ár kominn,’ for at next Yule he will be reckoned one year old, whereas one born just after it is ‘vel á ár kominn.’ The heathen Yule lasted thirteen days, whence are derived the names Þrettándi, the thirteenth = Epiphany, i. e. the 6th of January, as also the Engl. ‘Twelfth-night;’ it is however probable that the heathen feast was held a little later than the Christian (see hökunótt). The heathen Yule was a great merry-making, and tales of ghosts, ogres, and satyrs were attached to it, esp. the Jóla-sveinar or ‘Yule-lads,’ a kind of goblins or monster satyrs, thirteen in number, one to each day of the feast, sons of the kidnapping hag Grýla (q. v.), whose names were used to frighten children with, see Ísl. ÞjóðS. i. 219, 220. As the night lengthens and the day shortens, the ghosts gain strength, and reach their highest at Yule time, see Grett. ch. 34–37, 67–70, Eb. ch. 34, Flóam. S. ch. 22. The day next before Yule is called atfanga-dagr (q. v.) Jóla, when stores were provided and fresh ale brewed, Jóla-öl. Passages in the Sagas referring to Yule are numerous, e.g. Hervar. S. ch. 4, Hálfd. S. Svarta ch. 8, Har. S. Hárf. ch. 16 (in a verse), Hák. S. Góða ch. 12, 15, 19, Ó. H. ch. 151, Eb. ch. 31, Landn. 3. ch. 15 (in the Hb.), Bjarn. 51 sqq., Sturl. iii. 127. As for Yule games cp. the Norse and Danish Jule-buk, Jola-geit (Ivar Aasen) = a Yule goat, Dan. Jule-leg = a Yule game.

jól

II. in poetry a feast (generally); hugins jól, a raven’s feast, FmS. vi. 255 (in a verse), cp. Bjarn. 36.

jól

COMPDS: Jólaaptan, Jólabál, Jólaboð, Jólabók, Jóladagr, Jóladrykkja, Jólafasta, Jólafriðr, Jólaföstubók, Jólaföstutíð, Jólagjöf, Jólagrið, Jólahald, Jólahelgi, Jólahöll, Jólakveld, Jólales, Jólamorgin, Jólanótt, Jólaskrá, Jólasveinar, Jólatíð, Jólatíðir, Jólatíðabók, Jólatungl, Jólaveizla, Jólavist, Jólaöl.

Possible runic inscription in Younger Futhark:ᛁᚢᛚ
Younger Futhark runes were used from 8th to 12th centuries in Scandinavia and their overseas settlements

Also available in related dictionaries:

This headword also appears in dictionaries of other languages descending from Old Norse.

• Old Icelandic - Geir Zoëga's Dictionary
• Old Norwegian - Johan Fritzner's Dictionary