So you know the lyrics to Christmas carols? They may not be what you think.
Some of them have evolved over time, and how they’ve changed can tell us about language long ago.
Linguist Daniel Midgley gets festive on this episode of Talk the Talk.
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http://danielmidgley.com/talkthetalk/talk_classic.xmlShow notes
You can find out about the origins of a good many words by looking at the Online Etymological Dictionary.
www.etymonline.com
collie
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=collie
troll
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/troll#Etymology_3
Yule
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule
God rest you merry
http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxgodres.html
Tempest, storm, and wind: Singing Early Music, page 15.
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