The word used in Old English for coal is col, with a Proto-Germanic derivation *kolam.

There certainly has been a lot of speculation and various theories put forward about the origin of the word Yule. The 'wheel' theory is generally discounted by linguists (as in the quote from the Chambers dictionary above). Linguists have postulated a Proto-Indo-European word *kWekWlo meaning 'circle' and *kWel meaning 'go round', which are the root words for 'wheel'. In one of its earliest stages in Old Germanic, this was *hwehulaz   (the k sound in IE changed to h).

Working backwards linguistically, the postulated earlier Old Germanic form for Yule would be *jehwula or *je(g)wula   (j being spoken like a y).

One theory is that the word Yule is not of Indo-European origin at all. Along with some other words which were absorbed into what eventually became the Germanic languages, but do not fit into the Indo-European 'mould' (e.g. folk, house, shoulder) it may be that it was a word used by the "Ertebolle People" (ca. 6000-3500 B.C.). These were Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers who became farmers, occupying what is now the Denmark area. These Ertebolle people are thought to be of a different culture and language from the incoming Indo-Europeans, who were moving up from the Danube region. Given the location where the Ertebolle people lived, the Winter Solstice would have been a very important time and a great cause for celebration.

The theory is that there is no Indo-European derivative for Yule, because the Winter Solstice would have had less importance for its speakers. People only use/create words as and when they need them. 'Yule' (with the postulated early form pronounced 'Yehwula') may therefore be a 'one-off' with no other meaning (or origin) than: "the time when the days start to get longer, when we see the sun more and more" and the emotions and activities which go hand in hand with that time.

When you are going back so far in time linguistically, it must be said that a lot has to be left to speculation and theory. Hence the * symbol, which as I said on another thread here basically denotes a shrug of the shoulders and a hopeful grin !

- jeanie