From poop twig to famous wolf: Sudbury professor breaks down meanings of holiday terms

If you're getting ready for the holiday season, you may have mistletoe hanging in your home, be thinking about what St. Nick may bring and have stockings hung by the fire.

But what are the meanings behind holiday terms?

Sudbury's Mark Sundaram is a professor at Laurentian University who makes a living pondering the strange histories of word origins.

Yuletide

Sometimes, the Christmas season is referred to as the Yuletide season. Sundaram says the word is the word is not originally associated with the modern holiday season.

"It was a pre-Christian pagan germanic mid-winter fertility festival," he said.  

Rudolph

Known for his bright red nose and leading Santa's sleigh, each year, the reindeer leads eight others to deliver presents to children around the world.

But Sundaram says the meaning of Rudolph is not what you'd expect.

"The second element of Rudolph is wolf. The first element means fame or glory," he said.

"So glory wolf or famous wolf, which is surprising given that the wolf is one of the main predators of the reindeer."

Mistletoe

It's a tradition that when two people share a kiss when they are both standing under the mistletoe. But the meaning of the word isn't so romantic.

"It literally means poop twig," he said.

"So the mistle part means poop and the toe mark means twig."

Sundaram says in the past, people noticed the plant was propagated through bird droppings.

Partridge in a Pear Tree

The Twelve Days of Christmas includes many things, such as five golden rings, three french hens and of course, a partridge in a pear tree.

"There's only one related word in English to the word partridge and that is fart," he said.

Sundaram adds the source of the word goes back to the term "to fart loudly."

"At some point, someone thought the sound of the bird's wings was reminiscent of the sound of farting," he said.

Stocking

If you have a fireplace, you may have hung your stockings with care. Sundram says the word stocking is not an ancient word, and the older word for it is sock, which is still used today.

"It originally referred not to the article of clothing, but to a punishment device, the stocks," he said.

"So, there was sort of a grim humour to refer to the covering of the legs with stocks or stockings."

'Here we go a wassailing'

One holiday song you may be singing could be Here We Go A Wassailing. Sundaram says the term wassailing is connected to an old English expression that means be healthy.

"So it's sort of a greeting or toast you might make at the dinner table," he said.

"Because of that, it transferred over to the drink that you had when you made a toast."

He says people often drank a hot beverage while wassailing, and the drink often included a variety of ingredients, such as cream, eggs and pieces of toast.

"The toast is where we get the expression to make a toast," he said.

St. Nick

Santa Claus, or St. Nick, is known for his ability to deliver presents to children around the world on Christmas Eve. Sundaram says the name St. Nick refers to a man who comes from a town called Myra, which is now located in present-day Turkey.

"He was rich, his parents died early and left him a great deal of money," he said.

"He wanted to use that money to help those around him."