Easter

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ester, also estre and esterne,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English ēastre, mostly used in the plural ēastron,^[5][6][7] inherited from Proto-Germanic *Austrǭ,^[6][8] from the base of east.^[9][10][2] It is cognate with Old High German ōstarūn, Middle High German ōsteren, German Ostern, Old Frisian āsteron and Old Saxon ōstarfrisking (“paschal lamb”).^[9][6][8] Further cognates are Lithuanian aušrà (“dawn”),^[8][4] Ancient Greek ἠώς (ēṓs, “dawn”) and Latin aurōra (“dawn”),^[9][8] from Proto-Indo-European *aus- (“to shine”), especially of the dawn.^[10] Kroonen reconstructs the Germanic and Baltic words as *h₂eus-reh₂-, a replacement of the old Indo-European word for dawn.^[8] Bede derived the name from Ēostre, the Northumbrian form of Ēastre, a goddess whose feast was kept at the spring equinox;^{[6][5][10][4]} the OED notes that no other source confirms the goddess and some scholars think Bede invented her, but finds it unlikely that he made up a pagan festival to explain a Christian one.^[9] Among the Germanic languages only English and German use this word for the feast; most European languages call it after the Jewish Passover, from Latin pascha (compare paschal).^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Christian festival of Christ's resurrection: the word is recorded in early Old English glossaries,^[9] and Barnhart dates it to before 899, in Alfred's translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Weekley explains that the pagan spring festival fell at about the time of the Christian Paschal feast, so its name was taken over for the Christian feast after the conversion.^[7] In Old English the word was also used of the Jewish Passover, and Middle English Esterne and Ester still had this sense before 1387;^[9][4] it now survives only in Jewish Easter.^[9] Old English formed many compounds with Ēaster-, among them Ēasterdæg Easter Day, Ēastertīd Eastertide and Ēasterwuce Easter week.^[6][10] Wycliffe always wrote Paske, but Tyndale used Easter.^[7] From 1700 Catholics also spoke of making one's Easter, receiving communion in the Easter season.^[9] The word Easter egg is recorded by 1825, replacing earlier pace egg (1610s);^[10][4] Weekley calls the custom a modern revival from German, like the Christmas tree.^[7] The Easter rabbit is recorded from 1888 and the Easter bunny from 1904;^[10] Etymonline notes that such customs were limited to German immigrants in America before about 1900.^[10] In Lancashire dialect Easter-egging meant going from house to house begging for Easter eggs.^[11] The verb to Easter, to spend the Easter holiday somewhere, dates from 1854.^[9]

Timeline

• before 899 – Ēastre, Easter, in Alfred's translation of Bede.^[4]
• Old English – the Jewish Passover (now only in Jewish Easter).^[9]
• 1103 – Eastran, the festival of the resurrection.^[4]
• 1610s – pace egg, an Easter egg.^[10][4]
• 1700 – the act of receiving communion at Easter.^[9]
• 1825 – Easter egg.^[10][4]
• 1854 – verb, to spend the Easter holiday somewhere.^[9]
• 1888 – Easter rabbit.^[10]
• 1904 – Easter bunny.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The chief Christian festival, commemorating the resurrection of Christ, held on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox.^[12][2][9]
2. The Sunday on which this is celebrated, Easter Sunday or Easter Day.^[12][2]
3. The season of this festival; Eastertide.^[2][12]
4. (archaic) The Jewish Passover.^[9][4]

Word family

• Eastertide
• Easter cactus
• Easter daisy
• Easter egg
• Easter lily
• Easter Monday
• Easter Sunday

Related words

• paschal
• east
• aurora

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins