Easter
Etymology
Anglo-Saxon
The modern English term Easter developed from the Old English word Eastre , which itself developed prior to 899. The name refers to the Eostur-monath , a month of the Germanic calendar which may have been named for the goddess Ēostre in Anglo-Saxon paganism, attested by Bede. Bede describes the pagan worship of Ēostre among the Anglo-Saxons as having died out before the time he was writing. In 1835, Jacob Grimm proposed an equivalent Old High German name, *Ostara , in his work Deutsche Mythologie . An amount of scholarly theory and speculation surrounds the figure.
Semitic, Romance, and Celtic languages
Christians speaking Semitic languages (primarily Arabic) generally use names cognate to Hebrew Pesach ( פֶּסַח ). For instance, the second word of the Arabic name of the festival عيد الفصح ʿĪd al-Fiṣḥ has the root F-Ṣ-Ḥ, which given the sound laws applicable to Arabic is cognate to Hebrew P-S-Ḥ, with "Ḥ" realized as /x/ in Modern Hebrew and /ħ/ in Arabic. (The Arabic in this regard is more similar to the Biblical Hebrew than the Modern Hebrew pronunciation is). Arabic also uses the term عيد القيامة ʿĪd al-Qiyāmah , meaning "festival of the resurrection," but this term is less common. In Maltese the word is L-Għid . In Ge'ez and the modern Ethiosemitic languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea, two forms exist: ፋሲካ ("Fasika," fāsīkā ) from Greek Pascha , and ትንሣኤ ("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).
In all Romance languages the name of the Easter festival is derived from the Latin name, Pascha , introduced via the Greek Πάσχα which is itself derived from Pesach , the Hebrew festival of Passover. In Spanish, Easter is la Pascua .
In all modern Celtic languages the term for Easter is derived from Latin. In Brythonic languages this has yielded Welsh Pasg , Cornish and Breton Pask . In 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 Càisg and Manx Caisht . These terms are normally used with the definite article in Goidelic languages, causing lenition in all cases: An Cháisc , A' Chàisg and Y Chaisht .
Slavic languages
In most Slavic languages, the name for Easter either means "Great Day" or "Great Night". For example, Wielkanoc and Velikonoce mean "Great Night" or "Great Nights" in Polish and Czech, respectively. Великдень ( Velykden ), Великден ( Velikden ), and Вялікдзень ( Vyalikdzyen' ) mean "The Great Day" in Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Belarusian, respectively.
In Croatian and Serbian, however, the day's name reflects a particular theological connection: it is called Uskrs , meaning "Resurrection". In Croatian it is also called Vazam ( Vzem or Vuzem in Old Croatian), which is a noun that originated from the Old Church Slavonic verb vzeti (now uzeti in Croatian, meaning "to take"). It also explains the fact that in Serbian Easter is called Vaskrs, a liturgical form inherited from the Serbian recension of Church Slavonic. The archaic term Velja noć ( velmi : Old Slavic for "great"; noć : "night") was used in Croatian while the term Velikden ("Great Day") was used in Serbian. It is believed that Cyril and Methodius, the "holy brothers" who baptized the Slavic people and translated Christian books from Latin into Old Church Slavonic, invented the word Uskrs from the word krsnuti or "enliven".
Another exception is Russian, in which the name of the feast, Пасха ( Paskha ), is a borrowing of the Greek form via Old Church Slavonic.
Finno-Ugric languages
In Finnish the name for Easter pääsiäinen , traces back to the Swedish paask , as does the Sámi word Beassážat . The Hungarian name however, húsvét , literally means the taking of the meat , relating to the end of the Great Lent fasting period. In Estonian it is called Lihavõtted .
Easter in the early Church
The first Christians, including Gentile Christians, were certainly aware of the Jewish calendar (Acts 2.1; Acts 12.3; Acts 20.6; Acts 27.9; 1 Cor. 16.7), but there is no direct evidence that they celebrated any specifically Christian annual festivals. The observance by Christians of non-Jewish annual festivals is believed by some to be an innovation postdating the Early Church. The ecclesiastical historian Socrates Scholasticus (b. 380) attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of its custom, "just as many other customs have been established," stating that neither Jesus nor his Apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. However, when read in context, this is not a rejection or denigration of the celebration—which, given its currency in Scholasticus' time would be surprising—but is merely part of a defense of the diverse methods for computing its date. Indeed, although he describes the details of the Easter celebration as deriving from local custom, he insists the feast itself is universally observed.
Perhaps the earliest extant primary source referencing Easter is a mid-2nd century Paschal homily attributed to Melito of Sardis, which characterizes the celebration as a well-established one. Evidence for another kind of annual Christian festival, the commemoration of martyrs, begins to appear at about the same time. But while martyrs' "birthdays" were celebrated on fixed dates in the local solar calendar, the date of Easter was fixed by means of the local Jewish lunisolar calendar. This is consistent with the celebration of Easter having entered Christianity early, but does not leave the question free of doubt.
Second-century controversy
By the later second century, it was accepted that the celebration of Easter was a practice of the disciples and an undisputed tradition. A dispute arose concerning the date on which Pascha (Easter) should be celebrated. This dispute came to be known as the Quartodeciman controversy, and it was the first of many Paschal/Easter controversies.
The term Quartodeciman (derived from the Vulgate Latin, quarta decima , meaning fourteen) refers to the Christian practice of celebrating Easter on Nisan 14 of the Hebrew Calendar. Nisan 14 is the Passover, the day of preparation for the Jewish celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, itself commonly, if somewhat inaccurately, also called Passover.
The predominant practice in Asia Minor was to celebrate Easter on Nisan 14, while the practice elsewhere was to celebrate Easter on the following Sunday. Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna, by tradition a disciple of John the Evangelist, according to the church historian Eusebius, disputed the computation of the date with Bishop Anicetus of Rome, specifically as to when the pre-Pascha fast should end. The practice in Asia Minor at the time was that the fast ended on Nisan 14. The Roman/Alexandrian practice was to continue the fast until the Sunday following. An objection to Nisan 14 was that it could fall on any day of the week and the Roman and Alexandrian Churches wished to associate Pascha with Sunday. According to the church historian Sozomen, both sides could claim Apostolic authority for their traditions.
Shortly after Anicetus became bishop of Rome about 155, Polycarp visited Rome and among the topics discussed was this divergence of custom. Neither Polycarp nor Anicetus was able to persuade the other to his position, but neither did they consider the matter of sufficient importance to justify a schism, so they parted in peace leaving the question unsettled. Irenaeus of Lyons, who observed the Sunday custom, notes "Anicetus could not persuade Polycarp to forgo the observance inasmuch as these things had been always observed by John the disciple of the Lord, and by other apostles with whom he had been conversant; nor did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to keep it: Anicetus said that he must keep to the practice of the elders before him."
Polycrates (c. 190) emphatically notes this is the tradition passed down to him: "As for us, then, we scrupulously observe the exact day, neither adding nor taking away. For in Asia (meaning the Roman province of Asia) great luminaries have gone to their rest who will rise again on the day of the coming of the Lord.... These all kept Pascha (Easter) on the 14th day, in accordance with t
Even more about Easter
Easter
Easter (Greek: Πάσχα, Pascha or Pasxa) is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. Christians celebrate this day in observance of their belief that ...
Easter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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