Lully, Lullay, Thou Little Tiny Child

December 28 is the memorial of the Holy Innocents, the second of the sad observations during Christmas.  The first was December 26, the memorial of the martyrdom of St. Stephen.

December 28 falling on Wednesday, the carols associated with it will be featured in the BBC's Choral Evensong tomorrow, which can be accessed live and can then be accessed online for a week once the recording is available.  To hear it live, go to this page and click on "Radio Player" when it is 4:00 pm Wednesday in England.  To hear it recorded, which will be available perhaps a few hours later, click on "Listen to the Latest Program".  The Playlist is here.  Broadcast from Eton College, the music includes Coventry Carol, Responses by Howells, Carol of the Holy Innocents, the day's Scripture readings, and other aspects of Anglican Evening Prayer.

Holy Innocents Day is based upon the slaughter of children by Herod, told in Matthew 2:13-18:

When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”  Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.  He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son.

When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.  Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:

A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more. (NAB)

Here are two of the oldest carols written for Holy Innocents Day and some historical information about them.  Information about others can be found here.

Coventry Carol - Version 1:

1. Lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child.
By, by, lully, lullay.

2. O sisters, too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day;
This poor Youngling for whom we sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.

3. Herod the King, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day;
His men of might, in his own sight,
All children young, to slay.

4. Then woe is me, poor Child, for Thee,
And ever mourn and say;
For Thy parting, nor say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.

Coventry Carol - Version 2:

   Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
    By, by, lully, lullay.

1. O sisters too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day
This poor Youngling for Whom we sing
By, by, lully, lullay?

2. Herod the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.

3. That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever morn and day
For Thy parting neither say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.

    Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
    By, by, lully, lullay.

The two versions of the Coventry Carol are derived from the fifteenth century English pageant of the Shearman and Tailors, which was performed in Medieval Coventry, England.

Etymology of the words "lully lullay" is somewhat mysterious.  I heard, several years ago, from someone knowledgeable about church music, that the word is derived from a Latin word associated with Herod and the Holy Innocents -- perhaps a word implying holocaust or the deaths of children.  However, I could not confirm that origin today as I sought it on the internet, and the person I remembered hearing it from could only vaguely recall the time when a choir he led sang carols from Holy Innocents Day when it fell on a Sunday.  With only a few short hours spent looking for an answer, this is what I found.

An Online Etymology Dictionary  offers the following:

    "lull (v.) - c.1300, lullen "hush to sleep," probably imitative of lu-lu sound used to lull a child to sleep (cf. Swed. lulla "to hum a lullaby," Ger. lullen "to rock," Skt. lolati "moves to and fro," M.Du. lollen "to mutter"). The noun is attested from 1659.
    lullaby - c.1560, lulley by, from M.E. lollai, lullay, from lullen (see lull). Second element perhaps from by-by "good-by."

As I remembered hearing several years ago, the English word "lullaby" is thought to derive from "lollai" or "lullay", with the last syllable perhaps from "good-bye."  However, the dates given in the online source run into some trouble with the history of the Coventry Carol and other poetic uses of the words "lully" and "lullay" in connection with the Nativity and Holy Innocents.  For the word "lull", the online etymology seems a bit confusing.  It gives "c. 1300" for "lullen", but then says that the noun "lull" is only attested from 1659.  It then attributes "lullaby" to "lullen", and dates "lullaby" from c. 1560.  How those dates interact, or the online author's sources of information, are not very clear to me.

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21). Volume II. The End of the Middle Ages, available online here, gives examples of other Medieval English carols about Mary and the baby Jesus with the word "lullay" and similar words and provides an explanation, including this:

    All these poems are characterised by a lullaby refrain . . . . The metre of most of the songs falters between the Teutonic fourstress alliterative verse and the septenarius; the original type was, probably, English, and later singers tried to conform it to a new metre.  Moreover, the word "lulley," which is the burden of the refrain, supports the theory of English origin, and this supposition is also borne out by the character of the secular lullaby, which has the same lugubrious tone, with its regret that the little Child is ushered into a world of sorrow.  This is characteristically Teutonic.

    Merging into the lullaby is the complaint of Mary, of which many examples have survived.  The song which blends these two types is one of great beauty.  As in other lullabies, the Virgin tries in vain to soothe the Babe to sleep, and, distraught at His grief, enquires its cause.  Thereupon, the Child foretells the sufferings that await Him, and each new disclosure calls forth a fresh burst of grief from the afflicted Mother: "Is she to see her only Son slain, and cruel nails driven through the hands and feet that she has wrapped?  When Gabriel pronounced her "full of grace," he told nothing of this."

This excerpt from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, just quoted, is consistent with what I remember hearing about the association of the word "lully" or "lullay" with the death of the child, but it offers no such easy answer as a reference to a specific Latin or Teutonic word as I had remembered.  Perhaps the word I once heard was the source of "lullay" was a matter of speculation, or perhaps I just did not have time today to find the right source.

Another online source I found is Middle English Marian Lyrics, ed. Karen Saupe.  That source dates the earliest Nativity lyrics to late fourteenth century England, and specifically to John Grimestones commonplace book of 1372.  The text explains, quoting an earlier book by Rosemary Woolf:

The lullaby is an important form here. Woolf comments:

    The lullaby is in fact the predominant form of the Nativity poem, and it is able to draw directly on the homely and familiar, for both the form and the words, “lull”, “lullay”, “lullaby”, lowly and onomatopoeic in origin, seem only to have entered literature and the written language with the Nativity poems. There is, however, a difficulty here in that the medieval conception of a lullaby cannot be defined from outside the Nativity poems themselves, as traditional homely lullabies survive only from many centuries later. (p. 151)

In these expressions of mother/child intimacy, the poet often imagines a dialogue between Mary and the infant Jesus. Such dialogues often foreshadow the events to follow, the events of the Crucifixion.

Again, the concept of a Medieval English lullaby, with the words "lull," "lullay" or "lullaby", is connected to the crucifixion, with the earliest lullabies all coming from the Nativity poems.  According to the quoted stated from Woolf, it appears that lullabies unrelated to Christmas and the Holy Innocents only developed centuries later. 

I found one other source online that attributed the word "lully" to English Medieval slang meaning "I see."  That does not seem consistent with these historical sources.  Even if I found such a source elsewhere, I would probably conclude that it was intended in the sense of "until I see you again," meaning something similar to "good-bye," and not something originally meant to lull a child to sleep.  Thus, from the fifteenth century Wakefield Pageant, Secunda Pastorum, come the titles "Syng lullay thou shall, for I must grone" (translated "You shall sing lullaby for I must groan") and "Syng lullay on fast" (translated "Sing lullaby quickly"). 

The Wakefield Pageant is dated from the mid to late fifteenth century.  By comparison, the oldest known text of the Pageant of Shearman and Tailors (for which the Coventry Carol was written) is dated 1534, but the Coventry plays "were witnessed by Margaret, Queen of Henry VI, in 1456, by Richard III in 1484, by Henry VII in 1492" according to an excerpt from The Oxford Book of Carols, making the two pageants close in time of origin. 

I never did find what I thought I remembered as a specific Latin word that was the source of "lully" and "lullay" (whatever the source, it in fact was probably not Latin), but I did find interesting history behind the Coventry Carol and the English Christmas carol tradition as a whole.  I thought it would be interesting to share it in preparation for Holy Innocents Day tomorrow, for what it may add to an understanding of the music written long ago for this day in the Church calendar.

Comments

[Mark]

I am interested by what appears to be an oversight of potential interpretations of the cited meaning and association between the terms "lully", "lullay", and "by, by".

The referenced etymologies, which include "lull" and "lullen" as early forms, share a common theme of pacification. Therefore, "lully" and "lullay" can be viewed as derivative forms that were used in poetic/melodic phraseology.

Additionally, the use of "by, by" in the refrain does not necessarily interpret as a farewell. Rather, it may be an early idiomatic use of such phrases as "by and by", "by the by", and the Christian favorite, "in the sweet by and by". If such is the case, "by, by, ..." would be an unspecified and unknown space of time.

When the two concepts are combined, "by, by, lully, lullay" becomes a mother's attempt to pacify her child (and herself) by suggesting that the child will soon be calm and resting.

[Teresa Polk]

Thank, you Mark. I think your idea is surely worthy of consideration. I am not sure whether I would draw a clear distinction between the Online Etymology Dictionary's suggestion of "bye bye" being derivative of something akin to "goodbye", and your suggestion of "by and by". In the German, for example, "auf wiedersehen" is used to mean "goodbye" and more literally means until I see you again." It has the implication that you will see each other again in Heaven if not before. Similarly, remember the French "au revoir". In a medieval context, "goodbye" may well have had the implication of seeing someone again by and by, or in the "sweet by and by." So you might actually see that dictionary's suggestion as being supportive of your thinking.

Thank you for your thoughts!

[vanmansdad]

I may have been given wrong information but here goes.......Lullaby was told to have arisen from the "Lilith" figure of the Hebrew bible and many other ancient stories. Lilith was said to be Adams first wife who wanted equality but was denied. She descended into the "dark world" where she became, among other things, a baby snatcher. In fact , infant crib death was blamed on Lilith snatching the child.. Lilith was also known as "lulu", "lilth" and some other names.. A "lullaby" was a song sung to the child before bedtime to ward of lilith... Lilith go bye bye basically.