Where does “Christmastime” come from?
Christmastime derives from Middle English time, from Old French thym, from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα, ultimately from the Ancient Greek verb τίθημι meaning to place or set.
Christmastime (English): Christmas season; Christmastide; yuletide
Definitions
- Christmas season; Christmastide; yuletide
Ancestry of “Christmastime”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | Christmas | Red and green , especially red and green chile... |
| 2 | Middle English | Cristemasse | — |
| 3 | Old English | Cristes mæsse | Christmas |
| 4 | Old English | mæsse | mass |
| 5 | Vulgar Latin | messa | Eucharist, dismissal; Eucharist; dismissal;... |
| 6 | Latin | missa | Mass; Christian eucharistic liturgy; nominative... |
| 7 | Latin | missum | accusative supine of mittō; inflection of... |
| 8 | Latin | mittō | — |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | meitō | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | meyth₂- | to hurt; to exchange, remove; to replace, to... |