We might do well to embrace Brythonic words for a popular toxic, parasitic evergreen plant used for Winter holiday decorations and for its peer-pressuring one into a kiss. Whether Welsh, Cornish, or Breton (uchelwydd/ughelvarr/uhelvarr), the meaning is quite simple. Broken down,  “uchel“ = high, and “gwŷdd“ = trees. That said, I think (because it just sounds cool) I like a much older word, going back to Old Welsh and Old Breton… hisæl-barr.  While”hisæl,” is not clearly defined (but, I think it sounds a lot like “mistle”, and the backstory of the æ might be further-telling), “barr” is derived from the Gaelic and Brittonic words for “height” or “hill” and is used here to mean branch or thicket. More or less, the Brythonic (uchelwydd/ughelvarr/uhelvarr) focuses on the fact that accessing the plant usually requires scaling a tree in some way.

On the other hand, from Germanic linguistics we find the word “mistletoe“… from the older form ‘mistle’ adding the Old English word tān. ‘Mistle’ is from Common Germanic (cf. Old High German mistil, Middle High German mistel, Old English mistel, Old Norse mistil).

Ultimately, the Brythonic pretty much explains what was necessary to get to the plant, while the Germanic focused on what appears necessary for how the plant is seeded.

So, to my point… would you rather have the Brythonic uchelwydd/ughelvarr/uhelvarr floating over your head as inspiration for a seasonal kiss, or… “mistel” (meaning “dung”) and tan (meaning “twig”), combined to form misteltan/mistletoe?

That’s right… the plant’s seeds are spread by birds wiping their bills on branches or by their droppings, making it a “dung-twig”. The final “-toe” was a natural evolution from the Old English word for twig.  

Oh, and by the way did you know the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe is rooted in 18th century (or more narrowly, 1720-1784) England?

The “mistletoe song” from 1784 is a song from the English comic opera “Two to One” by George Colman the Younger.

What all the men, Jem, John, and Joe / Cry, ‘What good-luck has sent ye?’ / And kiss beneath the mistletoe / The girl not turned of twenty

Enjoy your seasonal tradition… 😉