The word “Easter” is used only in English for the Christian commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ.\u00a0 In most languages the word is passover (pasch), or some version of it.\u00a0 This is indeed what Easter is, the Christian version of passover.\u00a0 That’s why it moves: Jesus was Jewish, and lived in Judaea, and the events of his life are based around the Jewish lunar calendar, which gives passover as the full moon after the equinox.\u00a0 Jesus died on passover and rose on the Sunday after, so Easter is in principle the Sunday after passover.\u00a0 The Julian calendar was not in use in Judaea, unfortunately.\u00a0 None of this is known to the general public, and in the anglophone world it is widely assumed that every language calls it Easter.<\/p>\n
Where does the English word “Easter” come from?\u00a0 Our information on this comes from a single source, Bede\u00a0De ratione temporum<\/em>, (CPL 2320) on the reckoning of time, dated 723 AD.\u00a0 Chapter 15 of this contains a list of the Anglosaxon months, which is full of interest and reads as follows:<\/p>\n Antiqui autem Anglorum populi (neque enim mibi congruum videtur, aliarum gentium annalem obser\u00advantiam dicere, ct mese reticere) juxta cursum lunae suos menses computavere; unde et a luna Hebraeorum et Graecorum more nomen accipiunt. Si quidem apud eos luna mona, mensis monath appellatur. Primusque eorum mensis, quem Latini Januarium vocant, dici\u00adtur Giuli. Deinde Februarius Solmonath, Martius Hredmonath, Aprilis Eosturmonath<\/strong>, Maius Thrimylchi, Junius Lida, Julius similiter Lida, Augustus Weodmonath, September Halegmonath, October Winterfylleth, November Blodmonath, December Giuli, eodem quo Januarius nomine, vocatur. Incip\u00adiebant autem annum ab octavo Calendarum Janua\u00adriarum die, ubi nunc natale Domini celebramus. Et ipsam noctem nunc nobis sacrosanctam, tunc gentili vocabulo Modranicht, id est, matrum noctem, ap\u00adpellabant, ob causam; ut suspicamur, ceremoniarum quas in ea pervigiles agebant. Et quotiescunque communis esset annus, ternos menses lunares singulis anni temporibus dabant. Cum vero embolismus, hoc est, XIII mensium lunarium annus occurreret, superfluum mensem aestati apponebant, ita ut tunc tres menses simul Lida nomine vocarentur, et ob id annus ille Thrilidi cognominabatur, habens IV menses gestatis, ternos ut semper temporum caete\u00adrorum. Item principaliter annum totum in duo tempora, hyemis, videlicet, et aestatis dispartiebant, sex illos menses quibus longiores noctibus dies sunt aestati tribuendo, sex reliquos hyemi. Unde et men\u00adsem quo hyemalia tempora incipiebant Winterfylleth appellabant, composito nomine ab hyeme et plenilunio, quia videlicet a plenilunio ejusdem mensis hyems sortiretur initium. Nec ab re est si et caetera mensium eorum quid significent nomina interpretari curemus. Menses Giuli a conversione solis in auctum dici, quia unus eorum praecedit, alius subsequitur, nomina accipiunt. Solmonath dici potest mensis placentarum, quas in eo diis suis offerebant; Hredmonath a dea illorum Hreda, cui in illo sacrificabant, nominatur; Eosturmonath, qui nunc paschalis mensis interpretatur, quondam a dea illorum quae Eostre vocabatur, et cui in illo festa celebrabant, nomen habuit, a cujus nomine nunc paschale tempus cognominant, consueto antiquae observationis voca\u00adbulo gaudia novae solemnitalis vocantes.<\/strong> Trimilchi dicebatur, quod tribus vicibus in eo per diem pecora mulgebantur. Talis enim erat quondam ubertas Bri\u00adtanniae, vel Germaniae, de qua in Britanniam natio intravit Anglorum. Lida dicitur blandus, sive naviga\u00adbilis, quod in utroque mense et blanda sit serenitas aurarum, et navigari soleant aequora. Weodmonath mensis zizaniorum , quod ea tempestate maxime abundent. Halegmonath mensis Sacrorum. Winterfylleth potest dici composito novo nomine hyeme-plenilunium. Blotmonath mensis immolationum, quia in ea pecora quae occisuri erant diis suis vove\u00adrent. Gratias tibi, bone Jesu, qui hos, ab his vanis avertens, tibi sacrificia laudis offerre donasti.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n We are fortunate to have an excellent English translation of this long volume (1988, p.53-4) by Faith Wallis in the Liverpool University Press series “Translated Texts for Historians.”\u00a0 Here is the corresponding passage.<\/p>\n In olden time the English people – for it did not seem \u00a2tting to me that I should speak of other nations\u2019 observance of the year and yet be silent about my own nation\u2019s – calculated their months according to the course of the Moon. Hence, after the manner of the Greeks and the Romans, [the months] take their name from the Moon, for the Moon is called “mona” and the month “monath”.<\/p>\n The first month, which the Latins call January, is “Giuli”; February is called “Solmonath”; March “Hrethmonath”; April, “Eosturmonath”<\/strong>; May, “Thrimilchi”; June, “Litha”; July, also “Litha”; August, “Weodmonath”; September, “Halegmonath”; October, “Winterfilleth”; November, “Blodmonath”; December, “Giuli”, the same name by which January is called. They began the year on the 8th kalends of January [25 December], when we celebrate the birth of the Lord. That very night, which we hold so sacred, they used to call by the heathen word “Modranecht”, that is, \u2018\u2018mother\u2019s night\u2019\u2019, because (we suspect) of the ceremonies they enacted all that night.<\/p>\n Whenever it was a common year, they gave three lunar months to each season. When an embolismic year occurred (that is, one of 13 lunar months) they assigned the extra month to summer, so that three months together bore the name \u2018\u2018Litha\u2019\u2019; hence they called [the embolismic] year \u2018\u2018Thrilithi\u2019\u2019. It had four summer months, with the usual three for the other seasons. But originally, they divided the year as a whole into two seasons, summer and winter, assigning the six months in which the days are longer than the nights to summer, and the other six to winter. Hence they called the month in which the winter season began \u2018\u2018Winterfilleth\u2019\u2019, a name made up from \u2018\u2018winter\u2019\u2019 and \u2018\u2018full Moon\u2019\u2019, because winter began on the full Moon of that month.<\/p>\n Nor is it irrelevant if we take the trouble to translate the names of the other months. The months of Giuli derive their name from the day when the Sun turns back [and begins] to increase, because one of [these months] precedes [this day] and the other follows. Solmonath can be called \u2018\u2018month of cakes\u2019\u2019, which they offered to their gods in that month. Hrethmonath is named for their goddess Hretha, to\u00a0whom they sacrificed at this time. Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated \u2018\u2018Paschal month\u2019\u2019, and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.<\/strong> Thrimilchi was so called because in that month the cattle were milked three times a day; such, at one time, was the fertility of Britain or Germany, from whence the English nation came to Britain. Litha means \u2018\u2018gentle\u2019\u2019 or \u2018\u2018navigable\u2019\u2019, because in both these months the calm breezes are gentle, and they were wont to sail upon the smooth sea. Weodmonath means \u2018\u2018month of tares\u2019\u2019, for they are very plentiful then. Halegmonath means \u2018\u2018month of sacred rites\u2019\u2019. Winterfilleth can be called by the invented composite name \u2018\u2018winter-full\u2019\u2019. Blodmonath is \u2018\u2018month of immolations\u2019\u2019, for then the cattle which were to be slaughtered were consecrated to their gods. Good Jesu, thanks be to thee, who hast turned us away from these vanities and given us [grace] to offer to thee the sacrifice of praise.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Interesting stuff, but clearly belonging to a time past even in Bede’s day.<\/p>\n All the same there appears to be an error in the Eosturmonath translation, where the translator has split the sentence in two and in the process introduced a confusion.<\/p>\n Eosturmonath, qui nunc paschalis mensis interpretatur, quondam a dea illorum quae Eostre vocabatur, et cui in illo festa celebrabant, nomen habuit, a cujus nomine<\/strong><\/span> nunc paschale tempus cognominant, consueto antiquae observationis voca\u00adbulo gaudia novae solemnitalis vocantes.<\/p>\n Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated \u2018\u2018Paschal month\u2019\u2019, and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name<\/strong><\/span>, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Parsing this word by word:<\/p>\n et cui in illo festa celebrabant – and for whom, in that (month), feasts they used to celebrate.<\/p>\n nomen habuit, a cujus nomine<\/strong><\/span> nunc paschale tempus cognominant – (Eosturmonath) has a name, by which name<\/span><\/strong> now the paschal season they designate<\/p>\n consueto antiquae observationis voca\u00adbulo, gaudia novae solemnitalis vocantes –\u00a0 of the accustomed ancient observance by the name, the joys of the new rite calling<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The translator has treated “cuius”, “of whom\/which” as referring back to “dea … Eostre”.\u00a0 Well it could.\u00a0 “cuius” could refer to either a feminine or a neuter noun.\u00a0 But the curious position of the “nomen\u00a0 habuit” – “it has a name”\u00a0 – seems designed solely to avoid this.\u00a0 The whole bit about Eostre is put between “Eosturmonath” and “nomen habuit”, precisely to keep it out of the way of the rest of the sentence.\u00a0 So I suggest that “cuius” should be understood to refer to “nomen”, i.e. to the season, not the goddess.<\/p>\n This would mean that the TTH should read “now they designate the paschal season by its name”.<\/p>\n This means that – unsurprisingly – the word “Easter” comes from “Eosturmonath”, not directly from “Eostre”.\u00a0 According to Bede, the name Eostre gave rise to the season Eosturmonth (April) which in turn was used by the Christian English to mean the Christian festival of pasch.<\/p>\n So “Easter” is merely a worn down form of “Eosturmonath”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The word “Easter” is used only in English for the Christian commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ.\u00a0 In most languages the word is passover (pasch), or some version of it.\u00a0 This is indeed what Easter is, the Christian version of passover.\u00a0 That’s why it moves: Jesus was Jewish, and lived in Judaea, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19],"tags":[284,614,637,638],"class_list":["post-49534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-my-diary-announcements","tag-bede","tag-easter","tag-eostre","tag-eosturmonath"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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