• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Language / How Did “Greensleeves” The Christmas Song Get its Name and Where Did it Come From?

How Did “Greensleeves” The Christmas Song Get its Name and Where Did it Come From?

June 24, 2020 by Karen Hill

The ballad “Greensleeves” was first published in 1580, but no doubt had been known long before that.

One early lyric, “Lady Greensleeves” was a love song to a well-dressed woman, possibly a prostitute.

The music’s first application to Christmas appeared in New Christmas Carols of 1642 and was entitled “The Old Year Now Is Fled.” William Dix, a British insurance agent, wrote a poem in 1865 entitled “The Manger Throne.”

In 1872 a publisher took three of the poem’s many verses, set them to the “Greensleeves” melody, and published the resulting song as “What Child Is This?”

Contrary to a popular legend, England’s King Henry VIII (1491-1547) did not write the music for “Greensleeves.”

The song has been around for 500 years and has been used to cover a myriad of lyrics within almost as many different theatrical productions and has even been referenced by William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

Its most successful modem secular rendition was as the theme for the 1962 John Ford (1895-1973) movie How the West Was Won.

Related Facts

  • History of Christmas Cards
  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed the World
  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed Our Lives Forever
  • What was the European Age of Exploration?
  • When did the Christmas Song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” become Part of the Christmas Tradition?
  • How Much Do All the Gifts Cost in the Christmas Song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”?

Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « How Did the Word “Bully” Originate and Why Does it Have Both Good and Bad Connotations?
Next Post: Where Did the Phrase “Winging It” When Making it Up As You Go Come From and What Does it Mean? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy