I came across this today, which is still for another moment or so, Mardi Gras. I was looking for something completely different and happened to see a few brief sentences on the subject by the great Anatoly Liberman. You can see his whole article HERE.
I know, I know. Lent--what a drag, huh? Privation, fasting, penance--the works. Well, actually, no. As Liberman tells us, although the only sense of the word that remains with us currently is the well known ecclesiastical one, originally Lent's main sense was simply "Spring". Lent is actually related to the word "lengthen". So the period we're about to enter is just the one where the days lencten, lengten--lengthen.
So celebrate the returning sunlight, Northern Hemisphereans. Even if winter still seems to be holding its own in your neighborhood.
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And Happy Lengthening to you, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathleen.
ReplyDeleteBefore I read the article, how did a word that meant lengthening of days give rise to privation? Is the idea that celebration, rather than privation, would amount to taking the good fortune of spring for granted?
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't really address that, Peter, but apart from whatever penance before the crucifixion and resurrection of Christianity began to seem appropriate, I imagine that spring, while hopeful, wasn't a time of full larders.
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense. I had not thought of this before. Spring might mark that time when the harvest laid in over the winter was running low. I can imagine anxiety among farmers hoping the good weather would arrive before the food ran out.
ReplyDeleteYes, lLiving more on the spirit than the flesh, I'd think, whatever one's religious persuasion.
ReplyDeleteTurning to the spirit in the far of peril to the flesh, I'd say.
ReplyDeleteYou are all making me very hungry. Thanks for the new definition Seana. I like it better for its original meaning.
ReplyDeleteJulie, March is a hungry time, methinks.
ReplyDelete