jólahjól

This evening before sitting down to dinner, I flipped on the radio and spun the little volume dial. I was rewarded with a charming and informative program on the history of that excellent Christmas song made famous by Sniglabandið: Jólahjól, a pop tune capturing the excitement of the kid who desperately wants a bicycle (hjól, lit. "wheel") for Christmas (jól) and suspects that his smirking parents have indeed gotten him one, but he cannot be 100% certain and is trying not to let his hopes get the better of him.

This was pleasing supper entertainment, skemmtileg og fróðleg og umfram allt jólaleg. I found myself turning over in my head Jan de Vries's speculative etymology of the word Jól, clearly related to English Yule, Old English geol or geola and plenty of other Germanic words for the season around the turn of the year. De Vries grants that the pre-Germanic connections of this word are unsicher, but he offers, citing Feist, that it may well attach to an Indo-European root having to do with turning, axles, and wheels. In other words, jól and hjól may have the same origins; the jólahjól may by dumb coincidence echo a very ancient understanding of time and winter.