Pesach

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A Jewish festival commemorating the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their liberation from slavery
2. Often celebrated with a ritual meal called the Seder, featuring symbolic foods and prayers
3. Recognized as a time of reflection on freedom and family, it lasts for eight days in the Hebrew month of Nisan

Etymology: Hebrew "pésakh" is the name of the festival that Jews call Passover, and English took the word directly from it. What makes the story unusual is that the same word also gave Christianity its name for Easter. In Greek, the Hebrew term became "pascha," and from there it moved into Latin and then into Western European languages, where it came to mean Easter. English thus has two words descended from one Hebrew original: "Pesach" for the Jewish festival, and "Pasch," an older English term for Easter, which is a doublet of it. The English "Pesach" is therefore a late, direct borrowing rather than a word that travelled through the church. It preserves the Hebrew form, while its relative "Pasch" shows how the same name was reshaped by centuries of Greek and Latin use before reaching English.

Synonyms: Passover