Fancy Etymologies :: Easter
Alice Drozdiak
Easter, n. One of the great festivals of the Christian Church, commemorating the resurrection of Christ.
Although it's already passed us by, I thought I'd take some time to explain the etymology of the spring holiday that falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring. The etymology of the Christian holiday called Easter stretches back long before holy days were declared by the Church.
The first written appearance of the word in English was in 890, when King Alfred wrote, “Ic as tide Eastrena ecelice healdan wille.” Before his declaration to herald the coming of Eastertide, however, the word referred to a pagan goddess of the dawn named Éastre.
In many European languages, the word for Easter sounds less like our English version and more like the Spanish word, Pascua. As the holiday falls around a Jewish holiday, this word derives from the Hebrew for Passover, or pésa. In French, the word is Pâques, and it Italian, it's Pasqua; it's pask in Dutch.
In western culture, the word Easter conjures up not only bunnies and chocolate eggs, but the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ. How interesting, then, to realize that the word in most languages is derived from the name of a Jewish holiday, and our own word comes from a deity completely outside the Juedeo-Christian tradition! Think about it as you finish up the candy in that basket sent from home.