Etymology

Ember day

Em·ber day

Today it means: Any of the three days within the same week, four separate sets of which occur roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that are set aside for fasting and prayer. In Western Christianity they are usually the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the first Sunday in Lent, Whitsunday, Holy Cross Day (14 September), and Saint Lucy's Day (13 December). Full definition →

Middle English ember-dai ← Old English ymbrendæg ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromquatuor tempora“four periods”
  2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(H)r ̊-nw-“to flow, move, run”
  3. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₂m̥bʰi“around, about”
  4. Old English · inherited fromymbryne“period, revolution of time”
  5. Old English · inherited fromymbrendæg
  6. Middle English · inherited fromember-dai
  7. English todayEmber day

From Middle English ember-dai, imber-dai, imbre-dai (“Ember day”), from Old English ymbrendæg. Ymbren is possibly a corrupted form of Old English ymbryne (“period, revolution of time”), from ymb (“around, about”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi (“around, about”)) + ryne (“path along which motion occurs; course”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)r ̊-nw- (“to flow, move, run”)). Alternatively, Ember could be a corruption of Latin quatuor tempora (“four periods”), from which German Quatember (“Embertide”) is derived.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishymbryne all →

ember

Proto-Indo-European*h₂m̥bʰi all →

um-umbelap

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.