advent (n.)
Arrival. This noun often refers
to the appearance of someone or something important.
bupkis (n. pl.)
literally, little brown beans; figuratively, “nothin’,” as in “I got
nothin’.” (Yiddish expr.)
yuletide (adj.) pertaining to Christmas or the Christmas
season.
ethereal (adj.)
literally, pertaining to ether (i.e., the atmosphere); figuratively,
heavenly or idealistic.
wassail (v. / n.) Literally, as a verb, it means “Waes
Hail,” a toast in Old English (some students decide that wassail is the very first word they ever learned in Old
English; however, that’s not quite true, as the word ‘gold’ is actually a
complete cognate of the Old English word ‘gold’ – to wit, they are
identical). Anyway, ‘wassail’ can
mean “I toast you in the hall with a glass of mulled cider!” In subsequent years, the word has come to
mean the mulled cider itself – thus, the noun ‘wassail,’ or cider. (I take pains to parse this distinction,
because of the song “Wassail! Wassail!,” in which the word is used as a toast.
Hanukkah (n.) traditional Jewish holiday, closely associated
with lighting candles – a commemoration of some miraculous battle survivors in
2nd Maccabees, also known as the Festival of Lights. Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration. Modern celebrations of Hanukkah include
meals, singing songs, lighting candles, and giving gifts to children.
magi (n. pl.) The wise men – sorcerers? magicians? kings? –
from the East who visited the birth of Jesus Christ in biblical times.
mistletoe (n.) The
common name for a parasitical shrub that attaches itself to trees and produces
berries. (See Wikipedia for
details.) Sprigs of mistletoe are
traditionally hung at Christmas-time in English and American households as a
prompt for people to… embrace!
down (n.) As a noun,
this fine word refers to the “fluffy part” – the cottony, fibrous part of any
plant (at Christmas, for many, the down of a thistle-tree plant).
