Etymograph

English

Samhain

Samhain comes from Old Irish Samain ‘Halloween’.

  1. Old Irishc. 600–900Samain‘Halloween’
  2. Irishc. 1200–presentSamhain
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1994same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Old Irishc. 600–900Samain‘Halloween’
  2. Irishc. 1200–presentSamhain
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1994same form

Earliest quotation: 1994, Edain McCoy, Appendix Three: Outline for Ritual Construction: “Invite, but never command, friendly spirits, faeries, or elementals…”

Every English word from Old Irish Samain

Today it means

name A holiday, falling on the night of 31 October to 1 November, mentioned in Early Irish literature and celebrated by modern neo-pagans as the beginning of winter and the new year, and a time during which the spirits of the dead could return to the earth.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Old Irish Samain / Samhain

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