Yule: [OE] Old English gēol, the ancestor of modern English Yule, was originally the name of a pre-Christian mid-winter festival, but it later came to be applied to ‘Christmas’. It was related to Old Norse jól ‘mid-winter festival’ (possible source of English jolly), but where it ultimately came from is not known. It has been speculated that it may be descended from the Indo- European base *qwelo- ‘go round’ (source of English cycle and wheel), in which case it would denote etymologically the ‘turn’ of the year. [Yule etymology, Yule origin, 英语词源]