jolly

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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈd͡ʒɒli/
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• General-American: /ˈd͡ʒɑli/
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• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -ɒli
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• CMU ARPABET: JH AA1 L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English joli, jolif (“merry, cheerful”), from Old French joli, jolif (“merry, joyful”). For the loss of final -f in English, compare tardy, hasty, hussy, etc. It is uncertain whether the Old French word is from Old Norse jól ("a midwinter feast, Yule", hence "fest-ive"), in which case, equivalent to yule + -ive, compare Dutch jolig (“happy, festive, frolicsome, jolly”), West Frisian joelich, joalich (“merry, jolly”), Middle High German jœlich (“hooting, jubilant”). Alternatively, the Old French adjective has been conjectured to derive from a Vulgar Latin *gaudivus (from Latin gaudeō, more at joy), in which case it would require Early Old French ⟨d⟩ /ð/ to irregularly become ⟨l⟩ in jolif rather than being dropped, which is the usual case (alternatively, /l/ may be a hiatus filler inserted into expected *joïf). A possible parallel of ⟨d⟩ to ⟨l⟩ can be seen in the French name Valois, according to one hypothesis from Latin Vadensis, though this origin is itself uncertain and disputed.

* Cognate to the French name Jolie. It derives from the Old French word joli (merriness). * In Punjab (India) it is a corruption of the word jalli.

4 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: развеселявам (razveseljavam) — To amuse or divert
• Czech: škádlit — To amuse or divert
• Czech: bavit — To amuse or divert
• Czech: dělat si legraci — To amuse or divert