Someone asked me recently what Christmas greeting they would have used in the Middle Ages. It wasn’t 'Happy Christmas'. There’s no record of people wishing each other that until the early 16th century.

Throughout the medieval period in England, you would have most likely heard people call out 'Wassail, wassail, wassail.' or 'Wassail, Sire', If you were greeting a guest.

Wassail comes from the Anglo Saxon Was haile meaning 'Your Health'. The word was commonly repeated three times, as three was the number of great magical power and helped to ensure the blessing or wish would be fulfilled. But it meant far more than simply wishing someone good health in the coming year, because health was tied to good fortune and prosperity. So, you were also wishing someone good crops, healthy cattle and protection for their home and family too.

In 'Gawain and the Green Knight', we are told that cries of nowel were shouted frequently through the Christmas feast, accompanied by the banging of drinking vessels on the table, but that seems to be more like a toast than a greeting. In "The Franklin’s Tale" (1395) Chaucer writes ‘And nowel crieth euery lusty man.’

But no one can agree on where the English word nowel came from. Some say it was from the French nouel, which in turn became became noël, meaning 'a word shouted or sung from joy.' The word noël was first used to mean 'Christmas', and later to mean a 'Christmas Carol'. Another theory is that it came from a different French word Nouvelles meaning tidings or news. Others claim it comes from the Latin natalis, from which we also get the word we commonly use in English ‘natal’ – birth.

Some say nowel could even be a corruption of Yule, one of the oldest winter festivals in the world, celebrated at the time of the winter solstice.

But I was talking about all this to scientist who came up with the best theory yet -
‘It’s obvious,’ she said, 'if they were calling out "nowell" during a medieval feast what they were actually saying was "No ale!", meaning "my drinking cup is empty. Would someone please fill it."

Not the real origin, I know, but it’s the one that makes me smile.

A Gathering of Ghosts