![]() ![]() The words first appeared, as far as we can tell, in a single-page broadsheet entitled Four Choice Carols for Christmas Holidays with only a generic designation-“Carol I. ![]() In fact, the carol originally had no title. But the syntax of the title, the dictionary adds, “is frequently misinterpreted, merry being understood as an adjective qualifying gentlemen.” So the comma is often misplaced after “you,” as if those addressed were “merry gentlemen.” The oldest existing printed version of the song was published around 1700, though the lyrics were probably known orally before that.Īs the OED says, “rest you merry” is no longer used as an English expression it survives only in the carol. This brings us to the Christmas song “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”- the title as given in The Oxford Book of Carols and other authoritative collections. In his comedy Changes: or, Love in a Maze (1632), James Shirley has “Gentlemen, rest you merry,” a use that more clearly illustrates the sense of the expression and removes any ambiguity. In most of the 17th-century examples we’ve found, there’s no comma in “God rest you merry gentlemen.” When a comma does appear, it comes after “merry,” not before: “Rest you merry, gentlemen.” This is because “rest you merry” is addressed to the “gentlemen.” D., Gent” ( The Knave in Graine, 1640), Abraham Cowley ( Cutter of Coleman-Street, 1658), Thomas Southland ( Love a la Mode, 1663), and William Mountfort ( Greenwich-Park, 1691). It also appears in several other comedies of the period, including works by the pseudonymous “J. The popular playwright John Fletcher, for example, used “rest you merry gentlemen” in at least two of his comedies: Wit Without Money (c. Soon after Shakespeare’s time, we find the formulaic “rest you merry” addressed to “gentlemen.” In plays of the 17th century in particular, it’s often spoken by a character in greeting or parting from friends. “God rest you merry sir.” From Shakespeare’s As You Like It (c.“God rest you mery bothe and God be your guide.” From Like Wil to Like (1568), a morality play by Ulpian Fulwell.(The English is presented as a translation of the Latin greeting Amice salue.) “o louynge frende god rest you mery.” From an instructional book, Floures for Latine Spekynge Gathered Oute of Terence (1534) , by Nicholas Udall.The dictionary cites several early examples of the formula: And it was often preceded by “God” as a polite salutation, with the meaning “may God grant you peace and happiness,” the OED says. By the early 1500s, “you” was serving all four purposes in ordinary usage: objective and nominative, singular and plural.Īs a result, the usual form of the old expression became “rest you merry” even when only one person was addressed. From Floris and Blanchefleur (circa 1250), a popular romantic tale that dates from the 1100s in Old French.Īs early as the mid-1200s, according to OED citations, “you” began to replace the other second-person pronouns. The OED’s earliest example of the expression, in 13th-century Middle English, shows a single person being addressed: “Rest þe murie, sire Daris” (the letter þ, a thorn, represented a “th” sound). The expression we’re discussing required an object pronoun. This is because our modern word “you,” the second-person pronoun, originally had four principal forms: the subjects were “ye” (plural) and “thou” (singular) the objects were “you” (plural) and “thee” (singular). The form “rest you merry” was used in addressing two or more people, while “rest thee merry” was used for just one. The OED explains it more broadly as “an expression of good wishes” that meant “peace and happiness to you.” So in medieval English, the friendly salutation “rest you (or thee) merry” meant remain happy, content, or pleased. And at the time, “merry” had a meaning (happy, content, pleased) that’s now obsolete. ![]() In the earliest and most common of such expressions, the adjective was “merry,” according to citations in the Oxford English Dictionary. There’s that wayward comma too. Here’s the story.īeginning in the Middle Ages, English speakers used “rest you” or “rest thee” with a positive adjective (“merry,” “well,” “tranquil,” “happy,” “content”) to mean “remain in that condition.” (The verb “rest” is used in a somewhat similar sense today in the expressions “rest assured” and “rest easy.”) In fact, the original pronoun in that early 18th-century carol was “you.”īut that isn’t the only misunderstanding associated with the song. Q: Which is the more traditional version of this Christmas carol: “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” or “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”? I see it both ways, but the one with “you” looks better to me.Ī: You’re right-“you” makes more sense than “ye” in this case, as we’ll explain later. ![]()
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