Novus Sol de virgine
Reluxit nobis odie

Words and Music: English Traditional, About 1450

Source: Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914),  p. 17

Novus Sol de virgine
Reluxit nobis odie

1. Thou holy daughter of Sion,
Princess of Jerusalem,
Today sprang of these alone
The grain¹ of Jesse in Bethlehem.

2. This day also the bright star
That Balaam gan so to magnify
Arose of thee to stint² our war,
And in darkness us to gye.³

3. The orient light of Nazareth
Thou art also, to stint our strife,
That broughtest forth against death
This day the soothfast Man of Life.

4. Thou art eke the fleece of Gideon
Ydewed with the Holy Ghost,
The chaste temple of Solomon,
Clear as crystal in every coast.⁴

5. Thou art eke the joy of Israel,
To sting all our olde sorrow,
The gate the which Ezekiel
Saw always closed, both eve and morrow.

6. And thou art eke the purple rose
That whilom grew in Jerico;
The Father's wisdom to enclose
Thou were the temple and tower also.

Notes:

1. Seed. Return

2. Stop.  Return

3. Guide. Return

4. Side. Return

Rickert gives the following translations:

• Novus sol de virgine is translated as "A new sun of a virgin."

• Reluxit nobis hodie is translated as "Has shone upon us to-day."

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