# Christmas carol pronunciation **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345 "2012-10-10T19:12:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/1 "2012-10-10T19:12:31Z")
How do you say the first word of _Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring_. I’m not including a poll because I don’t want to bias the answers. Same reason I didn’t include the word in the title. I will include why I’m asking in a spoiler: [I’ve apparently been pronouncing it wrong, as Jesu is an English word pronounced JEE-z(y)oo. I wonder if YAY-zoo has taken over enough that I can say it’s also an English pronunciation. I think Jesu sounds like you are a hick who doesn’t know how to pronounce anything, sorta like if you correctly pronounce victuals.] I’m not sure if I have to say this, but don’t click the spoiler until you’ve answered, please. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/2 "2012-10-10T19:19:07Z")
Yay-zoo. That’s a Christmas carol? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/3 "2012-10-10T19:21:05Z")
Like this: [Pie Jesu\* Domine dona eis requiem](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgYEuJ5u1K0) \*This word can also be spelled another way, the point of your OP. And the quote in the video is ultimately from _Dies Irae_. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/4 "2012-10-10T19:35:52Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Yay-zoo. > > That’s a Christmas carol? Ditto. I’ve never seen/heard it as a Christmas carol. I think it’s part of a bigger cantata. [Wikipedia agrees.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesu,_Joy_of_Man%27s_Desiring) It’s the 10th movement of Bach’s _Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147_ (Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life). ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/5 "2012-10-10T19:38:21Z")
_Eeeeay_-sssue. Jay-sue sounds like you’ve never participated in a church choir with an overly-devoted choir-master. Or like you’re a hick. Either one. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/6 "2012-10-10T20:03:28Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever said it out loud more than once, but in my head it sounds like Jay Zoo. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/7 "2012-10-10T20:15:17Z")
Yay-zoo. As in German. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/8 "2012-10-10T20:16:32Z")
There are people who don’t associate it with christmas? ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/9 "2012-10-10T20:17:57Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever said it out loud more than once, but in my head it sounds like Jay Zoo. This, though I’m pretty sure I’ve NEVER pronounced it out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/10 "2012-10-10T20:36:33Z")
I’ve always heard, said, and sung it as “yay-zoo”, never anything else. And I think of it as wedding song far more than a Christmas song. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/11 "2012-10-10T20:44:05Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > There are people who don’t associate it with christmas? Yes. Most of us, I’m betting. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/12 "2012-10-10T20:53:34Z")
Yay-zoo. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/13 "2012-10-10T21:23:14Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Yes. Most of us, I’m betting. I’ma call you Patrick Star from now on cuz you live under a rock. Seriously, it’s so in the cultural mindset that It’s All Relative, a campy sitcom from the early 2000s had a character remark that of course the gay couple would be playing Jesu in their holiday music mix. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/14 "2012-10-10T21:38:28Z")
Yay-zoo ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Mood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Blue\_Mood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Mood)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/15 "2012-10-10T21:41:39Z")
Yay-soo ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/16 "2012-10-10T21:43:41Z")
Jee-zyu, since the rest of the words are in English. See also the Angel of the Agony in _The Dream of Gerontius_. Yay-zoo if the rest of the words are in Latin. Context is everything, I mean, it’s not like you’ve never heard “Jesus” pronounced “Hay-zooss”, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/17 "2012-10-10T22:03:08Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > There are people who don’t associate it with christmas? Recently, I associate it with this [Japanese commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_CDLBTJD4M). Put me in the YAY-SOO camp as well. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/18 "2012-10-10T23:00:44Z")
In my head, I’ve always said “Jeh-soo,” but I guess that’s wrong. I’ve only ever read it. Both Classical and Ecclesiastical Latin would be (close to) Yay-soo, no /z/ (source for Church Latin pronunciation: _A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin_). Fun fact: in Welsh, _Iesu_ is the ordinary word for Jesus and it’s pronounced “Yessie.” ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/19 "2012-10-10T23:46:30Z")
I’ve always said “JAY-zoo.” Now I gotta go listen to some of my old Bach motets… ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345/20 "2012-10-10T23:55:51Z")
Jay-Zoo. Possibly the full name for which Jay-Z is the nickname. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-carol-pronunciation/637345.md?page=2)