English Explanatory Dictionary

Eostre

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. A hypothesised West Germanic goddess, supposedly of the spring season, but of uncertain provenance.
  2. A neopagan festival celebrated either in March or April to welcome the Spring, also called Ostara or Easter.

Word forms

Eostre Ēostre

Etymology

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.

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