Where did the word Easter originate from?

Answer 1

The word Easter comes from the name of an old Germanic calendar month, which in turn may or may not be named for an Anglo-Saxon goddess.

Easter generally occurs in April, and the equivalent of April in the old Germanic lunar calendar used by Old English speakers in the 600s was something like "Eostur-mónaþ". Thus, the word Easter started off as a general term for that part of the year, and later was limited to just the holiday. Interestingly, it is noted by the Venerable Bede that the name for the month in his time (late 800s) was the "Paschal Month" - paschal, of course, is the adjective form from the Latin word for "Easter" (which itself comes from the Hebrew word for Passover).

In his work De temporum ratione, Bede surmizes that the old name of Eostur for the month may have come from the name of a pagan goddess named Eostre. However, no one but Bede has ever mentioned such a goddess, so it's possible that no such figure ever appeared in Anglo-Saxon or early Germanic religion.

Answer 2

Easter originates from Old English, which is an ancient Germanic language. According to Old English poet Bede, the word Easter comes from Eastre or Eostre, the name of a Germanic goddess connected to springtime.

Answer 3

Eastre or Eostre which was the name of the Teutonic goddess who threw a large party known as the Vernal Equinox.

Answer 4

Most reference books say that the name "Easter" derived from the Eastre, the Teutonic goddess of Spring.