Why does the name for the Easter holiday in English and other Germanic languages derive from a pagan goddess?

Question

I know it's because they celebrated the pagan holiday at the same time, etc. But in other languages spoken in Christian countries the word for the Easter holiday means Passover. Why did Germanic languages keep the pagan name?

Answer 1

They didn't and it's very unlikely that it's in any way related to something pagan. This article sums it up better than I ever could - https://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/commentisfree/belief/2011/apr/23/easter-pagan-roots

Answer 2

Actually, it quite possibly was named after "Eostremonth", the time of the year that the celebration of Eostre, if such a celebration existed, would have occurred within it.



It's not an issue of "keeping the pagan name." Contrary to internet ranters, the holiday of Easter existed long before the Christians had any real contact with the Germanic tribes. As it entered German lands, it adopted a Germanic name.



Easter is based on passover. It most certainly is not based on a Germanic holiday. The relation of a name is in no way evidence of connect between actual holidays, particularly since we're not at all sure such a holiday exists.

Answer 3

“Since Bede the Venerable (De ratione temporum 1:5) the origin of the term for the feast of Christ’s Resurrection has been popularly considered to be from the Anglo-Saxon Eastre, a goddess of spring…the Old High German plural for dawn, eostarun; whence has come the German Ostern, and our English Easter”



“The fact that vernal festivals were general among pagan peoples no doubt had much to do with the form assumed by the Eastern festival in the Christian churches. The English term Easter is of pagan origin”



“On this greatest of Christian festivals, several survivals occur of ancient heathen ceremonies. To begin with, the name itself is not Christian but pagan. Ostara was the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring”



“Easter—the name Easter comes to us from Ostera or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, for whom a spring festival was held annually, as it is from this pagan festival that some of our Easter customs have come”