Höku-nótt

Meaning of Old Norse word "höku-nótt" (or hǫku-nótt)

As defined by the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary:

höku-nótt (hǫku-nótt)

f. mid-winter night, about the time of Epiphany, when the heathen Yule began; a απ. λεγ.: hann setti þat í lögum at hefja Jólahald sem Kristnir menn …, en áðr var Jóla-hald hafit Hökunótt, þat var miðsvetrar-nótt (thus in FmS. i. 32, l. c.), ok haldin þriggja (þrettán?) nátta Jól, Hkr. i. 138 (Hák. S. Aðalst. ch. 15). The Scot. hogmaney, = the last day of the year or a feast given on that day, is a remnant of this ancient word. The heathen Yule seems among the Scandinavians to have been celebrated about three weeks later than Christmas; but the Norse king Hakon, who had been brought up in Christian England, altered the time of the festival, so as to make it correspond with the English Yule or Christmas; and so the heathen hökunótt came to represent our Christmas Eve. The etymology is not known.

Orthography: The Cleasby & Vigfusson book used letter ö to represent the original Old Norse vowel ǫ. Therefore, höku-nótt may be more accurately written as hǫku-nótt.

Possible runic inscription in Younger Futhark:ᚼᚢᚴᚢ-ᚾᚢᛏᛏ
Younger Futhark runes were used from 8th to 12th centuries in Scandinavia and their overseas settlements