English
easter
Easter comes from Old English ēast ‘the east’, from Proto-West Germanic *austr ‘eastern, easternly’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *austraz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*austraz‘east, eastern’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*austr‘eastern, easternly’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ēastas eastera‘the east’
- Englishearliest quotation 1824easter
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*austraz‘east, eastern’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*austr‘eastern, easternly’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ēastas eastera‘the east’
- Englishearliest quotation 1824easter
Earliest quotation: 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner: “In the mean while, as our apartment was a…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- ‘to dawn, become light’
or, aurora, exhaust, aeroplane, aureus, aural, aurelia, oriel, oriole, aurum, 60 more
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewsér ‘in the direction of dawn, east’
air, plane, aerial, malaria, aura, aria, aero, 17 more
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwsteros ‘in the direction of dawn, east’
through Old English ēast ‘the east’
Today it means
adj Eastern.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *austraz / easter