This Map Shows You How To Say 'Merry Christmas' In Every European Language

Merry Christmas! Buon Natale! God jul!

Christmas is finally here, and it’s time to give everyone you know the very best of wishes.

This map shows you exactly how to do so, in every European language.

Not only that, you can see how each greeting is etymologically related between the translations of the word ‘Christmas’.

This leads to a few interesting results. Although Romanian and Hungarian are completely unrelated languages, the words Karácsony and Crăciun both come from a common root (either Proto-Slavic *korčiti or Latin creātiōnem).

The Irish, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic words are all borrowed from Romance languages, and are related to the French Noël. The same holds true for the Turkish expression of Mutlu Noeller, also borrowed from the French.

How do you say Merry Christmas in your native tongue?

The map was made by Czech linguist and cartographer Jakub Marian.

The following list shows all the greetings:

Albanian: Gëzuar Krishtlindjet
Basque: Eguberri on
Belarusian: з Калядамі or з Божым Нараджэннем
Breton: Nedeleg laouen
Bulgarian: Весела Коледа or Честито Рождество Христово
Catalan: Bon Nadal
Croatian: Sretan Božić
Czech: Veselé Vánoce
Danish God jul or Glædelig jul
Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest
English: Merry Christmas or Happy Christmas
French: Joyeux Noël
Estonian: Häid jõule
Finnish: Hyvää joulua
Galician: Bo Nadal
German: Fröhliche Weihnachten or Frohe Weihnachten
Greek: Καλά Χριστούγεννα
Hungarian: Boldog karácsonyt
Icelandic: Gleðileg jól
Irish: Nollaig Shona + Dhuit (singular) or Daoibh (plural)
Italian: Buon Natale
Latvian: Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus
Lithuanian: Linksmų Kalėdų
Luxembourgish: Schéine Chrëschtdag
Macedonian: Среќен Божиќ or Христос се роди
Maltese: il-Milied it-Tajjeb
Norwegian: God jul
Northern Sami: Buorre juovla
Romanian: Crăciun fericit
Occitan: Bon Nadal
Polish: Wesołych Świąt (Bożego Narodzenia)
Portuguese: Feliz Natal
Russian: с Рождеством (Христовым)
Scottish Gaelic: Nollaig Chridheil
Serbian: Srećan Božić or Hristos se rodi
Sardinian: Bona Pasca de Nadale
Slovak: Veselé Vianoce
Slovene: Vesel božič
Spanish: Feliz Navidad
Swedish: God jul
Turkish: Mutlu Noeller
Ukrainian: з Різдвом (Христовим)
Welsh: Nadolig Llawen

What’s your language’s way of wishing everybody a happy Christmas?

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

About the author

Alice Johnston

Food Editor

Alice is always planning her next meal. She studied English at the University of Bristol before getting her Master’s in newspaper journalism from City University London. She worked on Femail at Mail Online for 18 months writing about lifestyle and food and has also worked at Metro.co.uk, The Guardian, Mumsnet and The Sun. After starting at Culture Trip as a Social Content Producer writing travel and lifestyle stories, she was promoted to the role of Food Editor and now specialises in culinary culture, trends and social issues around food. When she’s not writing, eating or travelling, she can be found cooking overly elaborate dinners, reading cookbooks in bed or playing with her cat, Orlando. Her favourite foods include fishfinger sandwiches, burnt caramel panna cotta, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and oysters.