Talk:The First Nowell
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The carol is actually "The First Nowell", but please be consistent in using one word or the other. I favour the use of Nowell in this instance. It's an English carol and uses the English spelling.Rockhopper10r 03:38, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
Adding to that, I have consulted my hymnal collection (I am a choir nerd!). Four spell it "Nowell" and two "Noel". Among the "Nowell" hymnals is The Oxford Book of Carols. Surely that is authoratative enough to tip the scales toward "Nowell". The number of Google hits merely means one spelling is more popular than another, not necessarily the more correct one. A lot of people think "it's" is a possessive, but that doesn't make it one.Rockhopper10r 03:48, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
The New Oxford Book of Carols is a "Nowell" source, and is pretty authoritative. The origins appear to be Cornish 16th-century, which would be "Nowell" for sure, long derived from the original french "Noël". Several sources argue that "Noël" is an error, a modern hypercorrection, and I'm inclined to agree. I've redrafted the article as "Nowell", with "Noël" as the alternative spelling. I've also resynched the lyrics to the NOBOC version (minor orthographic changes). Mooncow 01:12, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
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This article starts with ""The First Noël" (sometimes "The First Nowell") ..." Since the title of the article is actually "The First Nowell" I believe this should be ""The First Nowell" (Sometimes "The First Noël") ..."
