Ember day

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English[edit]

WOTD – 18 September 2019

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English ember-dai, imber-dai, imbre-dai (“Ember day”), from Old English ymbren-dæg.[1] Ymbren is possibly a corrupted form of Old English ymbryne (“period, revolution of time”), from ymb (“around, about”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi (“around, about”)) + ryne (“path along which motion occurs; course”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)r ̊-nw- (“to flow, move, run”)). Alternatively, Ember could be a corruption of Latin quatuor tempora (“four periods”), from which German Quatember (“Embertide”) is derived.[2]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

Ember day (plural Ember days)

  1. (Christianity) Any of the three days within the same week, four separate sets of which occur roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that are set aside for fasting and prayer. In Western Christianity they are usually the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the first Sunday in Lent, Whitsunday, Holy Cross Day (14 September), and Saint Lucy's Day (13 December).
    Synonym: (obsolete) Embering
    • 1662, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “Tables & Rules for the Moveable and Immoveable Feasts; together with the Days of Fasting and Abstinence, through the Whole Year”, in The Book of Common-Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, […], London: […] John Bill, and Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC:
      Days of Faſting or Abſtinence. [...] The Ember-days at the four Seaſons, being the Wedneſday, Friday, and Saturday after the First Sunday in Lent. / The Feaſt of Pentecoſt. / September 14. / December 13.
    • 1715, Job Gadbury, “MARCH hath xxxi Days”, in ΈΦΗΜΕΡΙΣ [EPHEMERIS]: Or, A Diary Astronomical, Astrological, Meteorological, for the Year of Our Lord, 1715. […], London: Printed for T. W. for the Company of Stationers, →OCLC:
      Saints Days, &c. [...] 9 [...] Ember-week [...] 11 [...] Ember-day [...] 12 [...] Ember-day
    • 1784 May 6, Rev. Mr. Denne, “XXIX. Memoir on Hokeday.”, in Archaeologia: Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, London: Printed by J[ohn] Nichols, printer to the Society [of Antiquaries of London];  […], published 1785, →OCLC, pages 253–254:
      St. Lambard's day (Auguſt 15) the feaſt of the dedication of Ryerſh church happening frequently in the Ember days (in diebus iiiim temporum) and alſo in harveſt, the biſhop ordered that it ſhould be kept on the tranſlation of St. Martin in the ſummer, which was July 4th.
    • 1848, Joel Spyker, “Almanack. Containing 169 Questions and Answers.”, in A Collection of Geographical, Moral, Religious, Biblical, Political and Other Chapters, in the Form of Questions and Answers, […], Brookville, Pa.: Brady & Wilson, printers, →OCLC, page 115:
      47. When does the third Ember day happen? On the first Wednesday after the Holy Cross. 48. When does that day happen? The Holy Cross always happens on the 14th day of September. 49. Why is that day named Holy Cross? Because that day was instituted in consequence of Queen Helena finding a piece of the Cross on Mount Calvery,[sic – meaning Calvary] about the year A.D. 615.
    • 1864, “December 13”, in R[obert] Chambers, editor, The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar: […] In Two Vols., volume II, Edinburgh: W[illiam] & R[obert] Chambers, →OCLC, page 687, column 2:
      The Ember-days are periodical fasts originally instituted, it is said, by Pope Calixtus, in the third century, for the purpose of imploring the blessing of Heaven on the produce of the earth; and also preparing the clergy for ordination, in imitation of the apostolic practice recorded in the 13th chapter of the Acts.
    • 1915, Edwin Miller Fogel, “Special Days and Seasons”, in Beliefs and Superstitions of the Pennsylvania Germans, Philadelphia, Pa.: American Germanica Press, →OCLC, paragraph 1305, page 252:
      You must not butcher beef on an Ember day but you may cut it up.
    • 2008, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Schoolboy (1867–1876)”, in Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower, Charles Foley, editors, Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters, London: Harper Perennial, →ISBN, page 49:
      I then drove to the Red Lion, here I met one of the fathers the first thing he said to me was, I dispense you from eating fish today (an ember day) so I got some meat soup I found the stockport bus, and drive here.
    • 2013, Philip H. Pfatteicher, “Advent”, in Journey into the Heart of God: Living the Liturgical Year, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 67:
      These are the Ember Days, the name derived from the German Quatember, a corruption of quattuor tempore, "the four times," four groups of three days (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday), marking the seasons by fasting and abstinence.

Alternative forms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “imbre-day, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 17 January 2019.
  2. ^ “ember, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1891; “Ember day, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

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