Fröhliche(s) Weihnachten?

[DanStrat1]

Warum sagt man "Fröhliche Weihnachten", wenn "Weihnachten" im Neutrum ist? Soll es nicht "fröhliches" sein?

[Cythra]

Wie Xanelluns/MichaPau sagen, ist die Weihnachten plural. Aber auch in Einzahl heisst es die Weihnacht, also feminin.

[npLam]

thanks, Cythra

[npLam]

is Weihnachten more than one night? (I'm thinking 12 days...)

[Xanellus]

I think Weihnachten is treated like a plural noun in German. "...nachten" might derive from the word "...nächte", so "Fröhliche Weihnächte"

[mizinamo]

If I remember correctly, it's originally dative plural, ze den wiehen nachten or something like that, which would be zu den ....en Nächten in modern German. (The adjective is no longer in use in modern German so I don't know what shape it would have taken. weihen, perhaps?)

But it's often treated as a regular plural noun, yes, hence Fröhliche Weihnachten!

On the other hand, Weihnachten steht vor der Tür can take a singular noun, perhaps because it's considered as similar to das Weihnachtsfest.

Convention!

[npLam]

I'm going to break the habit of a lifetime and write down: Weihnachten steht vor der Tür. Thanks

[MichaPau]

[...] der Variante Weihnachten (mhd. wīhennahten) liegt mhd.
ze wīhen nahten (nahten = alter Dat. Pl. von Nacht) „in den heiligen Nächten“ (d. h. den Mittwinter– oder Raunächten) zugrunde

Source

[DanStrat1]

Ok thanks