When I was young we had our own versions of Christmas carols. We changed the words – like ‘While shepherds washed their socks by night…’ Yesterday I was reminded of ‘God rest you merry gentlemen’.
It started ‘God rest you Gerry mental men’ which wouldn’t be acceptable today as we were implying unkind things about Germans….
…And then there’s the line, ‘The which his mother Mary did nothing take in scorn’, which is very correct old English grammar, but I thought ‘the witch, his mother Mary’ and sung it with inappropriate emphasis. Many would see this as sacrilege, but it amused my young mind.
I always assumed that the carol started ‘God rest you, merry gentlemen’. I had a picture of merry gents who were weary from overdoing it at Christmas and needed God’s help to rest from work or over-indulging.
I’ve recently discovered that I’ve got it wrong. It’s ‘God rest you merry, gentlemen’. This is a prayer that God will keep gentle people happy.
It’s about the importance of a comma.
In the Christmas narrative the shepherds find ‘Mary, Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger’. Without the comma – ‘Mary, Joseph and the baby lying in a manger’, all three of them are squashed in the manger together.
And there’s a difference between, ‘I’d like to thank my parents, Melanie, and God’, and ‘I’d like to thank my parents, Melanie and God’… Which changes a few relationships!
I investigated the carol further. The word ‘rest’ can mean to be still and supported, or to make someone or something remain in the specified condition – as in ‘his arm rested on the sofa’; ‘merry’ in early English had a much broader meaning, including delightful, pleasant, peaceful, joyful…
‘God rest you merry, gentlemen’ could possibly be rewritten something like ‘May God give, and keep gentle people supported and sustained in, peace and joy.’ This is a good prayer – that’s much deeper than my (still existing!) childish humour.
malcolmsmusings.org 