It may not be the most characteristic phrase to learn and not the most necessary to use on an upcoming trip to the countries of Europe, but it is certainly the most relevant as the Christmas holidays approach. And you will wonder what expression we are referring to, but of course the wish "Merry Christmas".

The map you will find below, which was made by Czech linguist and cartographer Jakub Marian, shows how you can say (or rather write) the equivalent of "Merry Christmas" mainly in European languages but not only. You can also see how each greeting is etymologically related among the translations of the word "Christmas". The fact that some languages have common linguistic roots is indicated by the color coding on this map.

Photo: © Jakub Marian

In the list below you will find all the greetings included in the map:

Albanian: Gëzuar Krishtlindjet

Basque: Eguberri on

Belarusian: з Калядамі or з Божым Нараджэннем

Breton: Nedeleg laouen

Bulgarian: Весела Коледа or Честито Рождество Христово

Catalan: Bon Nadal

Croatian: Sretan Božić

Czech: Veselé Vánoce

Danish God jul or Glædelig jul

Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest

English: Merry Christmas or Happy Christmas

French: Joyeux Noël

Estonian: Häid jõule

Finnish: Hyvää joulua

Galician: Bo Nadal

German: Fröhliche Weihnachten or Frohe Weihnachten

Greek: Καλά Χριστούγεννα

Hungarian: Boldog karácsonyt

Icelandic: Gleðileg jól

Irish: Nollaig Shona + Dhuit (singular) or Daoibh (plural)

Italian: Buon Natale

Latvian: Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus

Lithuanian: Linksmų Kalėdų

Luxembourgish: Schéine Chrëschtdag

Macedonian: Среќен Божиќ or Христос се роди

Maltese: il-Milied it-Tajjeb

Norwegian: God jul

Northern Sami: Buorre juovla

Romanian: Crăciun fericit

Occitan: Bon Nadal

Polish: Wesołych Świąt (Bożego Narodzenia)

Portuguese: Feliz Natal

Russian: с Рождеством (Христовым)

Scottish Gaelic: Nollaig Chridheil

Serbian: Srećan Božić or Hristos se rodi

Sardinian: Bona Pasca de Nadale

Slovak: Veselé Vianoce

Slovene: Vesel božič

Spanish: Feliz Navidad

Swedish: God jul

Turkish: Mutlu Noeller

Ukrainian: з Різдвом (Христовим)

Welsh: Nadolig Llawen