Conference thebay::joyoflex

634.0. "Easter, vowel shifts and all" by DOOZER::VTX () Mon Mar 06 1989 10:57

PREAMBLE.
    
    Easter is coming!  The festival brings us a rich, complex mix of
    Christian, Hebrew and pagan language, imagery and symbolism.
    Just the name "Easter" itself combines pre-Christianity and
    Christianity, thanks to the Venerable Bede (author of The History
    of the English Church and People).  He it was who gave to the Paschal
    feast the name of the ancient goddess of the dawn (and symbol of spring,
    rebirth and fertility) Eastre (Saxon) or Eostre (Old German).  A
    fitting name, perhaps, for a season which combines the death and
    resurrection of Christ, the feast of the Passover, the extinguishing
    of the pagan Beltane fires, the birth of young plants and animals
    and myriad other ancient rites and rituals.
    
    European languages other than English still refer to the festival
    as the ancient Paschal feast: Paques (Fr.), Pasquas (Sp.), Pasqua
    (It.) and have I not heard of a Russian "paskha" cake?
    
    Although English speaking countries have departed from this norm,
    thanks to Bede, oral tradition (certainly in England and my native
    Scotland) still throws up a range of interesting words which retain
    the Paschal link.  What is most interesting about these words is
    that they obviously span the "i-umlaut" (the Great Vowel Shift referred
    to in Note 444 - about which I could write more!)
    
    From Scotland, an ancient rhyme which refers to Easter as "Pace":
          
             When Yule comes, dule comes.
             Cauld feet and legs.
             When Pace comes, grace comes.
             Springtime and eggs.
    
    Note that the long *a* in "Pace" seems to pre-date the i-umlaut.
    
    Also used in Scotland is the traditional term "paskieshad" which
    is used to describe somebody who does not wear new clothes on Easter
    day.  Note here that the short *a* seems to post-date the i-umlaut.
    
    
SURVEY
    
    What I am interested in is collecting traditional, regional or
    colloquial terms connected with Easter time which are linked to
    the term "Paschal".
    
    For example, from Great Britain come:
    
    "pace-eggs" : Easter eggs (see my current entry in folk_music)
    
    "paste-eggs" : ditto, from the north-east of England
    
    "egg-pacing" : Easter egg rolling, a tradition in the north of Britain,
                   said by some to symbolise the stone rolling from
                   the door of Christ's tomb.
    
        ********************************************************
    
    Please give me your words - especially those which, like the above,
    pre-date the Great Vowel Shift with the long "a" sound.
    
    
    
    
            

    Well, there's Pascal pasties.  Ahh, my knees buckle over the mammaries
    of Pascal.  She had two eggs that made my brain scramble.  We were
    love bunnies for a semester while I was a foreign exchange student
    in Strasbourg, France.  Ahh, what I would give for those days again.
    Geez, it's so much fun to resurrect these old flames.  I call these
    memories my Pascal candle. If my wife ever found out about her,
    I would get nailed to the cross for it.  Well, I got a meeting
    upstairs with two other members of my staff.  Gotta go, but I'll
    be back, I promise.  Be good while I'm gone.