middes wintres dæg

Old English

Alternative forms

• midwintres dæg

Etymology

Possibly a shortening of middes wintres mæssedæġ, which appears earlier. The closely analogous term middes wintres mæsseniht (“night before Christmas”) even appears in the Early West Saxon of the Parker Chronicle (late 9th century).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmid.des ˈwin.tres dæj/

Noun

middes wintres dæġ m

1. Christmas Day
2. a day of Christmas

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	middes wintres dæġ	middes wintres dagas
accusative	middes wintres dæġ	middes wintres dagas
genitive	middes wintres dæġes	middes wintres daga
dative	middes wintres dæġe	middes wintres dagum

Synonyms

• Cristes mæssedæġ
• ġēoldæġ
• middes wintres mæssedæġ

Descendants

• Middle English: middewinteres day