The Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is on Pap and Paul’s cd “Songs of Christmas.” The book Stories Behind the Best Loved Songs of Christmas written by Ace Collins shares the fascinating history of the song.
The song was written over 500 years ago. The story of a song lasting for that number of years is fascinating in itself, but for me the most interesting part of the history detailed by Collins is the change that has occurred in the meaning of the words used in the song since that time.
“When modern people say “Merry” Christmas, the word merry means happy. When “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was written, merry had a very different meaning. Robin Hood’s “Merry Men” might have been happy, but the merry that described them meant great and mighty. Thus, in the Middle Ages, a strong army was a merry army, a great singer was a merry singer, and a mighty ruler was a merry ruler.
So when the English carolers of the Victorian era sang, “merry gentlemen,” they meant great or mighty men. Ye means you, but even when translated to “God rest you mighty gentlemen,” the song still makes very little sense. This is due to another word that has a much different meaning in today’s world and a lost punctuation mark.
The word rest in “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” simply means keep or make. Yet to completely uncover the final key to solving this mystery of meaning, a comma needs to be placed after the word “merry.” Therefore, in modern English, the first line of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” should read “God make you mighty, gentlemen.” Using this translation, the old carol suddenly makes perfect sense, as does the most common saying of the holidays, “Merry Christmas.”
You might wonder why, when most didn’t fully understand the real meaning of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” the old carol remained popular. The world’s love for this song is probably due to its upbeat musical piece paired with the telling of the most upbeat story the world has ever known. Those who sing it naturally get caught up in the celebratory mood of the message and embrace the same kind of emotions that those first to visit the baby Jesus must have felt. As the angel told the shepherds, “I bring you news of great joy.” That joy and the power of faith can be felt and experienced in every note and word of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” You just have to know how to translate the words into the language of the day to have a very Mighty Christmas!”
Listen to Pap and Paul’s version of the song to see if you like their version as much as I do.
I hope you enjoyed the song! To pick up a copy of Pap and Paul’s “Songs of Christmas” cd go here.
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As an English teacher, I love learning these sorts of things so I can pass them on to my students. Thank you for sharing!
Oh! my goodness your Pap and Paul did a really awesome job singing and playing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. I am going to place my order for the cd this week. Thank you, Tipper, for the wonderful
story above. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New year. So thrilled to know that your two additions to your family will be two sweet little boys. I had three of them, no girls. My oldest one (48) left this world in 2019. God bless Granny and God bless the Pressley family. AMEN
Patricia-I’m so sorry you lost him. Thank you for the kind words about us and the blessings!!
Thank you, Tipper. Many blessings to you and yours.
Omgosh I haven’t watched any videos today but reading through here I realize Corie found out the sex of her baby!!!! God is sooo good Tipper, two little boys, I’m over joyed for you and your family!! Just to prepare you though, those two little boys, are probably gonna have a super hero in their granddaddy Matt, and you’re gonna be just the super hero’s sidekick…..haha!!! Or at least it’s that way with my 24mo old grandson, he ADORES his Granddeddy and his Pa, talks about them all day long “Pa this, Agee that” (he can’t say grandddeddy so he says Agee) and never anything about Ma’am (me,) other than “pick up, pick up?” bc he wants held. I get to babysit this precious little one, God is so good!
I’d never given it a thought.
I definitely plan to get this CD. I was aware of the difference in word meanings and punctuation through the years, and was just ecstatic to see you put it out there for more people to learn about and appreciate this wonderful song. It has become my favorite Christmas song.
And grandchildren are definitely the best. My wife says it’s the purest love there is — with your spouse you kind of hedge your bets and try to choose someone you can follow life with. But you get to choose. With children, you don’t exactly get to choose, but you are sort of “obligated” in a nice way, to love them. Grandchildren take it one step further. You get to love them with no hedging of bets, no sense of parental obligation, you just love them. [Of course, after a while, grandparental obligation comes in!]
Merry Christmas to all your family.
I learned something new today. 🙂 I never even thought about those words having a different meaning, but it makes sense because a lot of words have taken on new meaning over the years.
Well done, you mighty gentle men. Paul, we hope to see more of you in the future.
Gives a new twist on the old nursery rhyme, too:
“Old King Cole was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there’s none so rare, as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three”
One of those figures was Coel Hen, also nicknamed, Coel the Old or Old King Cole because of his age. He was the King of Northern Britain during the decline of the Roman Empire when Britain was assailed by the Goths and exempt by the Romans.
Another legendary figure in Britain’s History was Coel Godhebog, a predecessor of Coel Hen, known as Cole the Magnificent.
The son of Coel Hen, identified as Saint Ceneu ap Coel, (English: Kenneth) was also a King of Northern Britain, mostly famous for defending and claiming the Christian religion especially during pagan invasions. He was canonized for this practice later on.
“Let nothing you dismay” No matter what you encounter in life; with Jesus there’s no need to be concerned, worried, discouraged, downcast, etc., etc., etc. Don’t let the circumstances of life get you down. ‘God’s got this’ is the message of this line.
One of my favorite Christmas songs & Pap & Paul’s singing of it was just beautiful! So happy for your family’s blessings with the coming of 2 precious baby boys. I pray for healthy babies & healthy Moms. I also pray Granny’s scan will show great news. I know you would be thrilled if Corie & Austin’s plans to move into their uncle’s house right by you works out. Is it Steve’s house they are hoping to buy?
Cheryl-that is is 🙂
This put me in mind of Gideon! when the angel said…Hello mighty warrior….I imagine Gideon was looking around the tree to see who the angel was talking to.
Love all the heartfelt music from your family. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Tipper, for doing the research and educating us on the original meaning of the word “merry.” I, for one, have never read or heard the info you provided. Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year to you and your family.
Good morning, Tipper! I love the Christmas season, and I love the carols we sing at Christmas. Pap and Paul always do such an excellent job singing. The times Paul has sung with his dad have to bring him great comfort, and the fact you both have so many videos of both Pap and Grammy is a true gift! The vast majority of us don’t have videos of our family members who have now gone on are not so lucky. Congratulations on reading a quarter of a MILLION viewers! Merry Christmas to you, right? One of the best things my sister Sandy ever did was to introduce me to your blog and U Tube. I look forward to years of more viewing and reading! God’s blessing on you and yours, Tipper!
Amazing version! It is exactly what I live! What a wonderful way to start my Sabbath morning.
I love hearing the songs of Paul and Pap. The harmony is wonderful.
This song has always been one of my favorites and now it makes absolute perfect sense
to me. I have always felt like there had to be some unusual meaning to the words of this song. Pap and Paul’s rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is so beautiful!!! I love their music so much!!! I also enjoy your girls’ music, as well as when Granny and Paul sing together!!!
I’m so glad you posted that information about the song. It brings a whole new look & feeling to it now when I hear & sing it. I just received my cd of Pap & Paul’s Songs of Christmas cd and am totally enjoying it so much. It has brought joy to me this Christmas season. Hugs!
I forgot to tell you how much I enjoyed Paps and Paul’s song! Excellent
This week has brought such glad tidings from your entire family and how I have loved hearing all the good news! Congratulations on reaching 250K. How very exciting that is and so well deserved!
I am so excited for Courie and Austin! What a joyful time. The boys will be so close, almost like the twins. I continue to pray for both girls and their babies to be healthy and do well throughout their pregnancies.
I will continue to pray for Granny and that her scan shows great news! God is able. God bless you and yours.
I always like that song. Now I like it even more with Mr. Wilson and Paul’s rendition. Thank you for sharing that. Have a great day!
I love the Christmas CD. I have over 20 Christmas CD’s and this is in the top 5!
Most interesting discussion of old versus newer word meanings. There is a long list of words in the King James Bible that have lost their original meaning. The only one that comes to mind is “conversation”, which in 1611 meant lifestyle–“way of living.”
Good morning Tipper. Paul and Pap did a beautiful job with this song. I really love learning something new in this blog every day. My granddaughter invited me to go Christmas caroling with her 4-H group this week. I imagine we will sing this song along the way—I will be thinking of it differently, though—thanks to your little lesson today. I also wanted to congratulate you and the parents, of course, on the upcoming arrival of your grandsons. I had my youngest grandson last evening— and as I held him, I just thanked God for him and all my grand-babies, and the joy they bring to our family. His big sisters went with mommy and daddy to see a live Nativity where they could pet and feed the animals. So much fun! We are going to watch another granddaughter play her trumpet in her middle school band concert this week too—so many exciting things to do! Christmas seems to be coming so quickly. I have really enjoyed all the extra things you guys are doing on the channels. The daily stories you read are just icing on the cake each day. Thank you so much for spending so much time with us all. Merry Christmas!
This is my 2nd season enjoying this cd. What a treasure. Also, wanted to let you know I prepared Cabbage Patch Stew last night! My husband and I enjoyed it and shared a bowl with my neighbor. It was fantastic. I love the cookbook. Thank you to Granny for taking the time to sign it for me, as well as thanks to you Tipper.
Fascinating. Always fascinating to learn something new. And “merry” is a play on words for “Mary.”
Good Blessed Sunday morning. While there are some newer catchy tunes than these oldies but goodies, you can never stop remembering them. While we do sing them in Church, I do play them on you tube during the day. There are a lot of us that does not have a radio in our homes any longer, the car, the you tube and usually in shops and malls. Before long they have you singing right along. Thanks for sharing Pap and Paul as they are so talented and I can see where you guys talents come from. Prayers for Granny for some good news at the Doctors. God Bless you guys.
Glenda, I have not turned the radio on in my cars now for several years. I do enjoy listening to the old hymns on you tube -many times sung by Pap, Paul, and the Girls. I have Direct tv and will occasionally listen to two music stations that play the old “rock and roll” songs of the 50 and 60’s. In my area we have an independent owned store that will have the old hymns playing in their store, when shopping there, I often find myself singing along with the hymns. I am a good solo singer- I sing so low no one can hear me! Today’s songs , be it religious, country, or the Christmas music I heard last Sunday night at candlelight service held at the cemetery where my wife and daughter along with other family members are buried does not appeal to me.
I purchased and received a copy of the cd this past week. Listened to it yesterday and really enjoyed it. A lot of talent.