It is Latin natalis worn down through French, and it means birth day. Three other explanations circulate online and all three are invented.
Noel is the French word for Christmas, and it comes from the Latin natalis, meaning relating to birth. Dies natalis was a birth day, and the phrase shortened over time into the name of the feast.
So when you sing or write it, you are saying birth day. Not good news, not a Hebrew phrase, and certainly not what one persistent internet claim says it means.
There are three false etymologies for this word in circulation and one of them gets used to tell Christians they are accidentally denying God. We will deal with all three.
Of or relating to birth, from nasci, to be born. The same root gives us nativity, native, natal and nation.
Dies natalis, birth day. Romans used it for anniversaries generally, including the founding date of a city or a temple.
Latin natalis wore down in spoken French, the middle consonants dropped away, and the word came out as noel. Ordinary sound change, nothing mysterious.
First the feast itself, then by extension a song sung at it. In modern French, Joyeux Noël is simply Merry Christmas.
Borrowed in the Middle Ages, often spelled nowell, which is why the old English carol title uses that spelling rather than the French one.
Noel and nativity are the same word arriving by different routes. One went through French and got shorter. One stayed Latin and stayed long.
The first is that Noel means good news. It does not. This one is harmless and probably comes from confusing it with the French nouvelles, meaning news. The good news connection is real theologically, since the Greek euangelion means exactly that, but it has nothing to do with this word.
The second is that Noel is Hebrew for born is the king. Also not true. There is no such Hebrew phrase, and the word entered English from French, which got it from Latin. Nothing in the chain passes through Hebrew at any point.
You will see it claimed that Noel breaks down as no and el, and that since El is a Hebrew word for God, the whole thing secretly means no God. The argument is then used to tell Christians that singing carols is denying Him without knowing it.
It is invented. You cannot take a French word descended from Latin, slice it into two syllables, and read those syllables as Hebrew. By that method the English word noodle contains a denial of God too. Nobody applies the rule consistently because it is not a rule, it is a coincidence of spelling in one language being read through another.
We are being blunt about this because that claim gets aimed at ordinary believers to make them anxious about something harmless, and anxiety produced by a made-up etymology is a bad use of anybody's faith. If you want the serious version of the Christmas questions, the date and the origins are worth actually examining, and we do that on the page about when Jesus was born.
Where does the word Noel come from?
Dies natalis meant birth day. The Latin wore down in spoken French into noel, and English borrowed it in the Middle Ages, often spelled nowell. The same root gives us nativity, native and natal.
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Manage My Giving"Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."2 Corinthians 9:7
Most English speakers meet this word in exactly one place, and the carol has an unusual history.
The First Nowell is traditional English, probably Cornish in origin, and nobody knows who wrote it. It circulated long before it was printed.
Davies Gilbert included it in a collection of old Cornish carols, which is how it survived into modern hymnals.
Musicians notice that it repeats essentially the same phrase rather than developing, which is unusual and may be a sign of how it was originally sung.
Nowell rather than Noël. That is the English form of the borrowing, several centuries old, which is why the title looks the way it does.
The word is not in Scripture, but the event is, and the wording of the announcement is worth reading slowly.
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
Luke 2:10 and 11The Greek is the verb behind euangelion, gospel. So the good news association attaches to the announcement itself rather than to the French word for the feast.
Luke keeps widening the frame throughout his gospel, and the angel is already doing it in the first announcement.
Not to the priesthood or the court. To men on a night shift whose testimony was not valued in court, which is Luke's habit.
John Drummond notes that for Matthew, Jesus is “a new Moses, a new deliverer to free the people of Israel from bondage”, while Luke shapes his account around David.
Noel turns out to be one of the plainest words in the Christmas vocabulary. It does not encode a secret, it is not smuggling anything in, and it is not a translation of anything Hebrew. It says birth day, which is what the day is.
That is worth appreciating in a season that attracts a lot of invented meaning in both directions. There are real questions about Christmas and we have taken them seriously elsewhere. This is not one of them.
What the word points at is the thing Luke reports: a birth, announced at night, to people nobody was consulting, described as good news for everybody. The French just called it the birth day and kept singing.
For related ground, see when Jesus was born, the origin of Christmas, whether Christians should celebrate Christmas, the incarnation, the wise men and what the good news is.
Noel is Latin natalis worn down through French, it means birth day, and the three alternative etymologies you have seen online are all invented.
Plenty of people have real ones and are not sure where to ask. Send yours in and somebody at Sound of Heaven will answer properly.
Noel is the French word for Christmas, and it comes from the Latin natalis, meaning relating to birth. Dies natalis meant birth day, and the phrase shortened over time into the name of the feast. The same Latin root gives us nativity, native, natal and nation. So the word simply means birth day.
No. That is probably a confusion with the French nouvelles, meaning news. The good news association is real theologically, since the Greek euangelion behind the word gospel means exactly that and the angel uses the verb form in Luke 2:10. But it has nothing to do with the origin of this particular word.
No. There is no such Hebrew phrase. The word entered English from French, which got it from Latin, and nothing in that chain passes through Hebrew at any point. The English spelling nowell, used in the old carol title, is the medieval English form of the French borrowing.
No, and this one is worth answering directly because it gets used to make people anxious. The claim slices a French word descended from Latin into two syllables and reads them as Hebrew. By that method the English word noodle would contain a denial of God too. Nobody applies the rule consistently, because it is not a rule.
The First Nowell is traditional English, probably Cornish in origin, and nobody knows who wrote it. It circulated for a long time before Davies Gilbert published it in an 1823 collection of old Cornish carols, which is how it reached modern hymnals. Musicians often note that its tune repeats essentially the same phrase rather than developing.