Etymology

Eostre

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Today it means: A hypothesised West Germanic goddess, supposedly of the spring season, but of uncertain provenance. Full definition →

Old English Ēostre ← Proto-West Germanic *Austrā ← Proto-Germanic *Austrǭ
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*Austrǭ“Easter, springtime”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*Austrā
  3. Old English · learned borrowing fromĒostre
  4. English todayEostre

A learned borrowing from Old English Ēostre, the Northumbrian variant of West Saxon Ēastre (“a word referring to "the rising dawn" to indicate the season of Spring”) and ēastre (“Easter”), from Proto-West Germanic *Austrā, from Proto-Germanic *Austrǭ (“Easter, springtime”). Doublet of Easter.

Words from the same roots

Proto-West Germanic*Austrā all →

easter

Proto-Germanic*Austrǭ all →

easterEaster term

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.