Christmas Music - In Other Words Quiz

Answer: Twelve Days of Christmas

A duodecad is a group of 12 things. The word 'Christmas' literally means 'Mass of Christ'. As for a 'twenty-four-hour period', well, heck, you know what that is!

The cost of these twelve days of Christmas, according to 'The Christmas Index of December 2005, would be $18,348.87, in 2005 dollars. (Seven Swans-a-Swimming, for example, would cost about $4,200.)

Answer: Jingle Bells

'Jingle Bells', known previously as 'One Horse Open Sleigh', was written by a Mr. James Pierpont in 1857 for Thanksgiving. Later, it became associated with Christmas, though, if you'll notice, the song contains no mention of the latter holiday.

Answer: Let it Snow!

'Let it Snow!' was written in 1945. Here are the lyrics from the first verse:

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful;
And since we've no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Answer: Deck the Halls

'Deck the Halls' is another one of those Christmas songs that doesn't contain the word 'Christmas', though the synonymous word 'yule' does appear. The song is derived from a traditional Welsh winter carol entitled 'Nos Galan'.

By the way, the word 'festoon' may be used as a synonym for 'decorate', which is another term for 'deck'.

Answer: Blue Christmas

Ernest Tubb was the first performer to make 'Blue Christmas' a hit (in 1949), but the world is most familiar with the Elvis Presley version of the somewhat downbeat tune.

Azure is a shade of blue, while the word 'nativity' is sometimes used in place of Christmas.

Answer: Silver Bells

'Silver Bells' is one of the most oft-recorded Christmas tune, none more famously that Bing Crosby's 1951 version. Jay Livingston and Ray Evans were the songwriters. They originally intended to call it 'Tinkle Bells'...no idea how I would have handled 'tinkle' in other words!

The adjectival word 'argent' is from the Latin 'argentum', meaning silver. A campanile is a bell tower (a word derived from the Latin 'campana', meaning 'bell').

Answer: The First Noel

'The First Noel', also written with the awesome umlaut as 'The First Noël', is an 'ancient' English Christmas song. Noël is the French term for 'Christmas', derived as it is from the Latin term 'natalis', meaning 'birth'.

Answer: Joy to the World

Okay, let's not rename it, then, but rather try to decipher some elements of this alternate name. 'Cerulean-hued' is another potential word for 'blue', the color of the Earth (or 'world'), or in the case of this question, the 'globe rotating at the approximate distance of an astronomical unit around the Sun'. An astronomical unit (or AU) is approximately equal to 93 million miles, or 149.6 million kilometers, or the average distance from the center of the Earth to the center of the Sun.

Answer: Silent Night

'Silent Night' was originally written as a German carol by Franz Gruber (music), with lyrics added by Josef Mohr (who entitled the song 'Stille Nacht'). Perhaps the most famous English-language performance of the song was by Frank Sinatra.

'Nocturnal' is an adjective for 'night'.

Answer: The Christmas Song

Though Nat King Cole made the song famous, it was Mel Torme who penned the classic Yule-related (aka Christmas) tune with Bob Wells in 1944. The song is subtitled 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire'.

I hope you have enjoyed this quiz, and I wish you a merry Christmas, regardless of the time of year!