Where does the word nativity come from?

The word derives from the Latin 'natal' meaning birth (1200–50; ME nativite < OF nativité < LL nātīvitās). Natal is also the source of several other English words, including native and nature.

While pre-natal is the standard medical term and in common use, nativity (the Nativity) is almost exclusively used in the religious/iconic sense, defined in the Oxford Dictionary as follows:

Nativity scene in Barcelona

 the birth of Jesus Christ/a picture, carving, or model representing Jesus Christ’s birth:
[as modifier]:
a little crib surrounded with nativity figures: the Christian festival of Christ’s birth; Christmas. 

For Christians the Nativity is not the central event in the church calendar (Easter is far more pivotal).  It is an important festival but it's meaning is the subject of theological dispute:

The Nativity of Jesus, also The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus, primarily based on the two accounts in the gospels of Luke and Matthew, and secondarily on some apocryphal texts. The word is anglicized from Latin De nativitate Iesu, a section title in the Vulgate.

The canonical gospels of Luke and Matthew describe Jesus being born in Bethlehem, in Judea, to a virgin mother. Luke features the Christmas story, in which Joseph and Mary, as part of a census, travel to Bethlehem, where Jesus is born and laid in a manger.

Angels proclaim him a savior for all people, and shepherds come to adore him. In Matthew, wise men follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, born the King of the Jews. King Herod massacres all the toddler boys in Bethlehem to kill Jesus, but the holy family flees to Egypt and later settles in Nazareth. Scholars debate whether these two accounts can be reconciled or not, and some view the narratives as non-historical. Source

What is Frankinsense? And Myrrh

A Paul McCartney story about the young John Lennon's late night encounter with a Nativity scene in Liverpool was the inspiration for this Fred & Rita playscript.
Christmas Carol Teaching Pack
More Christmas-related posts