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Yule or Yuletide ("Yule time") is a religious festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples, later undergoing Christianised reformulation resulting in the now better-known Christmastide. The earliest references to Yule are by way of indigenous Germanic month names ''Ærra Jéola'' (Before Yule) or ''Jiuli'' and ''Æftera Jéola'' (After Yule). Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Modranicht. Terms with an etymological equivalent to ''Yule'' are used in the Nordic countries for Christmas with its religious rites, but also for the holidays of this season. ''Yule'' is also used to a lesser extent in English-speaking countries to refer to Christmas. Customs such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from Yule. A number of Neopagans have introduced their own rites. ==Etymology== ''Yule'' is the modern English representation of the Old English words ''ġéol'' or ''ġéohol'' and ''ġéola'' or ''ġéoli'', with the former indicating the 12-day festival of "Yule" (later: "Christmastide") and the latter indicating the month of "Yule", whereby ''ǽrra ġéola'' referred to the period before the Yule festival (December) and ''æftera ġéola'' referred to the period after Yule (January). Both words are thought to be derived from Common Germanic *''jeχʷla-'', and are cognate with Gothic ''(fruma) jiuleis'' and Old Norse (Icelandic and Faroese) ''jól'' (Danish, Swedish and Norwegian ''jul'') as well as ''ýlir'',〔Bosworth & Toller (1898:424); Hoad (1996:550); Orel (2003:205)〕 Estonian ''jõul(ud)'' and Finnish ''joulu''. The etymological pedigree of the word, however, remains uncertain, though numerous speculative attempts have been made to find Indo-European cognates outside the Germanic group, too.〔For a brief overview of the proposed etymologies, see Orel (2003:205).〕 The noun ''Yuletide'' is first attested from around 1475.〔Barnhart (1995:896).〕 The word is attested in an explicitly pre-Christian context primarily in Old Norse. Among many others (see List of names of Odin), the long-bearded god Odin bears the names ''jólfaðr'' (Old Norse 'Yule father') and ''jólnir'' (Old Norse 'the Yule one'). In plural (Old Norse ''jólnar''; 'the Yule ones') may refer to the Norse gods in general. In Old Norse poetry, the word is often employed as a synonym for 'feast', such as in the kenning ''hugins jól'' (Old Norse 'Huginn's Yule' > 'a raven's feast').〔Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874:326).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yule」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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