More carol singing.

How many of you sing "God rest ye / merry gentlemen", that is with "merry" treated as an adjective describing "gentlemen"? Quite a few, I bet. And yet it should be "God rest ye merry / gentlemen" - with "merry" as an adverb modifying "rest". "God rest ye merry" is simply old English for "God keep you in good spirits". Another one folks generally get wrong is the line in "Silent Night" that goes "Round yon virgin mother and child", where "virgin", "mother" and "child" are treated as three nouns, whereas "virgin" is an adjective describing "mother" - in other words "virgin-mother". Of course, the tune doesn't help here - inviting you, as it does, to take a breath between "virgin" and "mother". And can you sing "Oh come, all ye faithful" in Latin? I can - it's one of the few things that stuck from school. In fact, the Latin words are the original - the English words are a translation. So for those of you who want to know, here it is (well, the first verse anyway) -

Adeste, fildeles,

Laeti triumphantes,

Veite, venite in Bethlehem.

Natum videte

Regem angelorum.

Venite adoremus,

Venite adoremus,

Venite adoremus,

Dominum.