Path: christian Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian From: JEK@cu.nih.gov Subject: etymology of "Easter" Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu for SRC In most languages, the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord is known as the PASCH, or PASQUE, or some variation thereof, a word which comes from the Hebrew PESACH, meaning "Passover." In English, German, and a few related languages, however, it is known as EASTER, or some variation thereof, and questions have been asked about the origin of this term. One explanation is that given by the Venerable Bede in his DE RATIONE TEMPORUM 1:5, where he derives the word from the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess of Spring called EASTRE. Bede is a great scholar, and it is natural to take his word for it. But he lived 673-735, and Augustine began preaching in Kent in 597. The use of the word EASTER to describe the Feast would have been well established before the birth of Bede and probably before the birth of anyone he might have discussed the subject with. It seems likely that his derivation is just a guess, based on his awareness that there had been an Anglo-Saxon goddess of Spring bearing that name, and the resemblance of the words. Thus, if the said resemblance (surely it is not surprising that a personification of Spring should have a name similar to the word for Dawn) is not in istelf convincing, the testimony (or rather the conjecture) by Bede does not make it more so. Assuming that Bede was right, that would not justify saying that the Christian celebration (which, after all, had been going on for some centuries before the name EASTER was applied to it) has pagan roots. It would simply mean that the Anglo-Saxons, upon becoming Christians and beginning to celebrate the Resurrection by a festival every spring, called it by the name that to them meant simply "Spring Festival." However, Bede's is not the only theory that has been proposed. J Knoblech, in "Die Sprach," ZEITSCHRIFT FUER SPRACHWISSENSCHAFT 5 (Vienna, 1959) 27-45, offers the following derivation: Among Latin-speaking Christians, the week beginning with the Feast of the Resurrection was known as "hebdomada alba" (white week), since the newly-baptized Christians were accustomed to wear their white baptismal robes throughout that week. Sometimes the week was referred to simply as "albae." Translaters rendering this into German mistook it for the plural of "alba," meaning "dawn." They accordingly rendered it as EOSTARUM, which is Old High German for "dawn." This gave rise to the form EASTER in English. Yours, James Kiefer [No, I'm not interested in restarting discussions of the propriety of celebrating Easter. However this seems like it contains enough interesting information that people might like to see it. --clh] From steve.hayes@f20.n7106.z5.fidonet.org Mon Sep 27 23:43:44 1993 Received: from kudu.ru.ac.za by aramis.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA17967; Mon, 27 Sep 93 23:43:44 EDT Received: by kudu.ru.ac.za (Smail3.1.28.1 #1) id m0ohVy8-000MksC; Tue, 28 Sep 93 05:43 EET Message-Id: Date: 28 Sep 93 03:29:09 To: christian-request@aramis.rutgers.edu From: Steve.Hayes@f20.n7106.z5.fidonet.org Subject: Easter - where's it come from? To: christian-request@aramis.rutgers.edu In a note of <27 Sep 1993 00:28>, Susan Harwood Kaczmar wrote: SHK>Actually, it's a pagan goddess, and Her name is most commonly SHK>given as SHK>Eostre, and the holiday as Eostre or Ostara. She is SHK>Saxon/Germanic, So far, so good. Most of that tallies with the information I have been able to find. SHK>Her totems are indeed the egg (often dyed in interesting SHK>colors, SHK>particularly red) and the hare. She is a later, European form SHK>of the SHK>goddesses Astarte and Ishtar, and She is honored at the spring SHK>equinox SHK>for the return of springtime. Can you give any evidence for this? I have heard similar assertions many times, but vigorous assertion does not constitute proof. Please would you give the sources for your information, as I would like to follow it up. Virtually the only reference I have been able to find to Eostre is from the Venerable Bede who noted that the term Easter is derived from her. A "totem", by the way is an animal that is associated with a clan or a tribe, not a custom associated with a god. Eostre, if she ever assumed animal form, may have been a totem of the English, but eggs and hares could not be her "totems". The Christian use of "Easter" comes from "Eosturmonath", the month in which her festivals took place. It was roughly equivalent to April, and the vernal equinox was in March. March (Hredmonath) was the month in which the festival of the goddess Hretha was celebrated, and April (Eosturmonath) was the month in which the festival of Eostre was celebrated (see Henry Mayr-Hartung, "The coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England" Batsford, London, 1991). SHK>Oh yes... all these cognate goddess names are related to the SHK>word SHK>"estrogen." Really? Again, can you provide any evidence? Steve Hayes Missiology Department University of South Africa P O Box 392 Pretoria 0001 South Africa Sysop of Unisa Editorial BBS 5:7106/20@Fidonet