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Why 'Maundy' Thursday?

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The first citation of maunde  to describe the Thursday before Easter in middle English comes in the mid-15C. It described both The Last Supper and the ceremony of the washing of the feet of the poor or downtrodden. The immediate origin was the Old French word mandé. This in turn derived from the Latin mandatum  or "commandment". From a Christian perspective, the crucial reference was to the opening words of the Latin church service for this day, Mandatum novum do vobis "A new commandment I give unto you" (John xiii:34).  This new commandment was to love one another.   Its supreme test would be the Passion of  Good Friday . Free read on Medium : The language of Easter?  (4 mins)

Where does the word Easter come from?

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The word Easter is not in the New Testament. Nor does it feature in most translations of the Bible into vernacular languages.  Isn't Easter  linked to Passover? There is no direct linguistic link in English between the  words  Easter  and   Passover  as there is in romance languages like French where  Pâques , in French, covers both  Easter  and Passover .  In Spanish,  Semana Santa (Holy Week) is the most common phrase used to describe the festival and Domingo de Resurrección   the day itself. Domingo de Pascua is more formal and used less frequently So where does the word  Easter come from?      Scholars agree that Easter  has pre-Christian roots. Beyond that there is little consensus. According to the great Anglo-Saxon scholar the  Venerable Bede , the Old English word eastre came from Eostre, "a goddess associated with spring."   April was called Eosturmonath  ("Easter-month") because in pagan times the month was dedicated to Eostre, an Anglo-

Why do we say 'Good' Friday?

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It may seem odd that Christians call their day  of greatest sorrow   Good   Friday . Photo by  Sincerely Media  on  Unsplash

What is a blackguard?

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noun a  rude or unscrupulous person who   behaves  in a  dishonourable  or  contemptible  way. One of the characteristics of Hiberno (Irish) English is that there are many words commonly used in speech that are archaic in standard British English.

What is Lent?

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Lent is the word Christians use to describe the forty days leading up to  Easter .

What is the shortest complete sentence in English?

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There are two main candidates for the shortest sentence in the English language.