The “round” in “Silent Night” might call up imagery of the soft, maternal kind, but in the phrase “round yon virgin,” it simply means “around.” “Yon” is an antiquated word for “that one” or “over there.”
This is what I always suspected but hoped wasn't true: we're just saying, "The virgin mother's over there." Deep stuff.
There's more decrypting of odd Christmas song lyrics ("Troll the ancient Yuletide carol," for example) over at Mental Floss.
4 comments:
Oh man, what a disappointment. I always assumed it meant pregnant.
It's a continuing sentence from the previous line: "All is calm, all is bright 'round yon virgin mother and child." or, translated: 'Everything is calm and bright around that virgin mother and her child over there.' Unfortunately the melody divides the line and breaks up the continuity in the minds of many hearers.
Yon as in yonder? Over yonder!
Yeah, I've been saying for years that yon virgin was round because she was pregnant.
Post a Comment