Easter from Wikipedia Etymology 2nd Century The second century equivalent of Easter and the _Paschal Triduum_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paschal_Triduum) was called by both Greek and Latin writers "Pascha (πάσχα)," a Greek transliteration of the _Aramaic_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic) form of the Hebrew פֶּסַח, the _Passover_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover) feast of Exodus 12._[19]_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter#cite_note-18) _Paul_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Apostle) writes from _Ephesus_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesus) that "Christ our Pascha has been sacrificed for us," although the _Ephesian Christians_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christianity) were not the first to hear that Exodus 12 spoke about the _death of Jesus_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jesus) ._[20]_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter#cite_note-19) In most of the non-English speaking world, the feast today is known by the name Pascha and words derived from it English and German The modern English term Easter developed from the _Old English_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_language) word Ēastre or Ēostre (IPA: _[ˈæ ːɑstre, ˈeːostre]_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA) ), which itself developed prior to 899. The name refers to Eostur-monath (Old English "Ēostre month"), a month of the _Germanic calendar_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_calendar) attested by _Bede_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bede) , who writes that the month is named after the _goddess_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess) _Ēostre_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ēostre) of _Anglo-Saxon paganism_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_paganism) . Bede notes that Ēostur-monath was the equivalent to the month of April, yet that feasts held in her honor during Ēostur-monath had gone out of use by the time of his writing and had been replaced with the Christian custom of the "Paschal season". The feast was also historically referred to in English as "Pash" or "Pace", from the Latin pascha (see below). Using comparative linguistic evidence from continental Germanic sources, the 19th century scholar _Jacob Grimm_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Grimm) proposed the existence of a cognate form of Ēostre among the _pre-Christian beliefs_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_paganism) of the _continental Germanic peoples_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Germanic_mythology) , whose name he reconstructed as _*Ostara_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ēostre) . Since Grimm's time, linguists have identified the goddess as a Germanic form of the _reconstructed_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_reconstruction) _Proto-Indo-European_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language) goddess of the dawn, *_Hausos_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hausos) and theories connecting Ēostre with records of Germanic _Easter customs_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_custom) (including hares and eggs) have been proposed. Modern German features the cognate term Ostern, but otherwise, Germanic languages generally use the non-native term pascha for the event. Semitic, Romance, Celtic and other Germanic languages This section contains _Ethiopic text_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge'ez_script) . Without proper _rendering support_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Multilingual_support_(Ethiopic)) , you may see _question marks, boxes, or other symbols_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojibake) instead of Ethiopic characters.
The Greek word Πάσχα and hence the _Latin_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language) form Pascha is derived from Hebrew Pesach (פֶּסַח) meaning the festival of _Passover_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover) . In Greek the word Ἀνάστασις Anástasis (upstanding, up-rising, resurrection) is used also as an alternative. Christians speaking _Arabic_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language) or other _Semitic languages_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_languages) generally use names _cognate_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognate) to Pesaḥ. For instance, the second word of the Arabic name of the festival عيد الفصح ʿĪd al-Fiṣḥ, _[ʕiːd ælfisˤħ]_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_Arabic) has the _root_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triliteral) F-Ṣ-Ḥ, which given the _sound laws_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_law) applicable to Arabic is cognate to Hebrew P-S-Ḥ, with "Ḥ" realized as /x/ in Modern Hebrew and /ħ/ in Arabic. Arabic also uses the term عيد القيامة ʿĪd al-Qiyāmah, _[ʕiːd ælqiyæːmæh]_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_Arabic) , meaning "festival of the resurrection", but this term is less common. In _Maltese_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_language) the word is L-Għid, where "Għ" stands for the common Semitic consonant _Ayin_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayin) , and is directly derived from Arabic ʿĪd, which in both cases means "festival". In _Ge'ez_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge'ez_language) and the modern _Ethiosemitic languages_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Semitic_languages) of _Ethiopia_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia) and _Eritrea_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrea) , two forms exist: ("Fasika", fāsīkā) from Greek Pascha, and ("Tensae", tinśā'ē), the latter from the Semitic root N-Ś-', meaning "to rise" (cf. Arabic nasha'a—ś merged with "sh" in Arabic and most non-_South Semitic languages_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Semitic_languages) ). In all _Romance languages_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages) , the name of the Easter festival is derived from the Latin Pascha. In Spanish, Easter is Pascua, in Italian and Catalan Pasqua, in Portuguese Páscoa and in Romanian Paşti. In French, the name of Easter Pâques also derives from the Latin word but the s following the a has been lost and the two letters have been transformed into a â with a _circumflex_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_the_circumflex_in_French) accent by _elision_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elision) . Additionally in Romanian, the only Romance language of an _Eastern church_ (htt p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_Orthodox_Church) , the word Înviere (resurrection, cf. Greek Ἀνάστασις, _[anástasis]_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_Greek) ) is also used. In all modern _Celtic languages_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_languages) the term for Easter is derived from Latin. In _Brythonic languages_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brythonic_languages) this has yielded Welsh Pasg, _Cornish_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_language) and _Breton_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breton_language) Pask. In _Goidelic languages_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goidelic_languages) the word was borrowed before these languages had re-developed the /p/ sound and as a result the initial /p/ was replaced with /k/. This yielded Irish Cáisc, _Gaelic_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic) Càisg and _Manx_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_language) Caisht. These terms are normally used with the _definite article_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definite_article) in Goidelic languages, causing _lenition_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenition) in all cases: An Cháisc, A' Chàisg and Y Chaisht. In _Dutch_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_language) , Easter is known as _Pasen_ (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Pasen) and in the _Scandinavian languages_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_languages) Easter is known as påske (Danish and Norwegian), påsk (Swedish), páskar (Icelandic) and páskir (Faeroese). The name is derived directly from Hebrew Pesach. The letter _å_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Å) is pronounced /oː/, derived from an older aa, and an alternate spelling is paaske or paask. Slavic languages In most Slavic languages, the name for Easter either means "Great Day" or "Great Night". For example, Wielkanoc, Veľká noc, Velika noč and Velikonoce mean "Great Night" or "Great Nights" in _Polish_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_language) , _Slovak_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovak_language) , _Slovenian_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenian_language) and _Czech_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_language) , respectively. Велигден (Veligden), Великдень (Velykden), Великден (Velikden), and Вялікдзень (Vyalikdzyen') mean "The Great Day" in _Macedonian_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonian_language) , _Ukrainian_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_language) , _Bulgarian_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_language) , and _Belarusian_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarusian_language) , respectively. In _Croatian_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_language) , however, the day's name reflects a particular theological connection: it is called Uskrs, meaning "Resurrection". It is also called Vazam (Vzem or Vuzem in Old Croatian), which is a noun that originated from the _Old Church Slavonic_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Church_Slavonic) verb vzeti (now uzeti in Croatian, meaning "to take"). In _Serbian_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_language) Easter is called Vaskrs, a liturgical form inherited from the Serbian recension of _Church Slavonic_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Slavonic) , corresponding to Croatian Uskrs. The archaic term Velja no ć (velmi: Old Slavic for "great"; noć: "night") was used in Croatian while the term Velikden ("Great Day") was used in Serbian. It should be noted that in these languages the prefix Velik (Great) is used in the names of the _Holy Week_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week) and the three feast days preceding Easter. Another exception is _Russian_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_l anguage) , in which the name of the feast, Пасха (Paskha), is a borrowing of the Greek form via _Old Church Slavonic_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Church_Slavonic) . Finno-Ugric languages In Finnish the name for Easter pääsiäinen, traces back to the verb pääse- meaning to be released, as does the _Sámi_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_languages) word Beassážat . The _Estonian_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_language) name lihavõtted and the Hungarian húsvét, however, literally mean the taking of the meat, relating to the end of the Great Lent fasting period. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
