Pentecost

From Middle English Pentecoste (“feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost; season of Pentecost, Whitsuntide; Jewish festival celebrating giving of the law to Moses”),^[1] from Old English Pentecosten,^[2] also influenced by Anglo-Norman pentecoste, Middle French pentecoste, and Old French pentecoste (“Christian feast of Pentecost; Jewish festival of Pentecost”) (modern French Pentecôte). Both the Old English and Old French words are derived from Ecclesiastical Latin Pentēcostē (“Christian feast of Pentecost; Jewish festival of Pentecost”), from Koine Greek πεντηκοστή (pentēkostḗ, “Christian feast of Pentecost; Jewish festival of Pentecost”), from Ancient Greek πεντηκοστή (pentēkostḗ, “fiftieth”), a noun use of the feminine form of πεντηκοστὸς (pentēkostòs, “fiftieth”, adjective), short for πεντηκοστὸς ἡμέρα (pentēkostòs hēméra, “fiftieth day”) (referring to the Jewish festival falling on the fiftieth day after the second day of the Passover), used in the Bible to translate Hebrew שָׁבוּעוֹת (shāvū'ót, “weeks”).^[3] Πεντηκοστὸς (Pentēkostòs) is derived from Proto-Hellenic *penkʷēkontstós, from *pénkʷe (“five”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe (“five; hand”)) + *-kontstós (suffix forming ordinal numbers from twentieth to ninetieth) (whence Boeotian Greek ‑καστός (‑kastós); from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ (“ten”)).

The surname is from Old French and Middle English Pentecost, a personal name perhaps given to one born on Pentecost; also an altered form of Pankhurst. Compare Pancoast.^[4]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛntɪkɒst/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛntəˌkɔst/, (cot–caught merger) /-ˌkɑst/, [-ɾə-]

• Audio (General American); /ˈpɛntəˌkɔst/:

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• Hyphenation: Pen‧te‧cost

Pentecost (plural Pentecosts)

2. (Judaism) Synonym of Shavuot (“a Jewish harvest festival which falls on the sixth day of Sivan in the spring, fifty days after the second day of the Passover when the omer (“sheaf of barley”) is offered; a ceremony held on that day to commemorate the giving of the Torah (“first five books of the Hebrew scriptures”) to Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai”).

   Synonyms: Feast of Weeks, Shavuos

   • 1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Tobit II:1, folio 405, verso, column 1:

     Novv vvhen I vvas come home againe, & my vvife Anna vvas reſtored vnto me vvith my ſonne Tobias, in the feaſt of Pentecoſte, vvhich is the holy feaſt of the ſeuen vvekes, there vvas a great dinner prepared me, in the vvhich I ſate dovvne to eat.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 2:1–4, signature [L6], recto, column 2:

     And when the day of Pentecoſt was fully come, they [the Apostles] were all with one accord in one place. And ſuddenly there came a ſound from heauen as of a ruſhing mighty wind, and it filled all the houſe where they were ſitting. And there appeared vnto them clouen tongues, like as of fire, and it ſate vpon each of them. And they were all filled with the holy Ghoſt, and began to ſpeake with other tongues, as the ſpirit gaue them vtterance.

   • 1710, Charles Wheatly, “Of the Sundays and Holydays and Their Epistles and Gospels, &c.”, in The Church of England Man’s Companion; or A Rational Illustration of the Harmony, Excellency, and Usefulness of the Book of Common Prayer, &c. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Anth[ony] Peisley; [a]nd are to be sold by J. Knapton, H. Clements and J. Morphew, […], →OCLC, section 23 (Of Whitsunday), § 4, page 96:

     The firſt Leſſon for the Morning contains the Lavv of the Jevviſh Pentecoſt or Feaſt of VVeeks, vvhich vvas a Type of ours; for as the Lavv vvas at this time given to the Jevvs from Mount Sinai, ſo alſo the Chriſtians upon this day receiv'd the nevv Evangelical Lavv from Heaven, by the adminiſtration of the Holy Ghoſt.

   • 1892, I[srael] Zangwill, “The Sons of the Covenant”, in Children of the Ghetto […], volume I, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, book I (The Children of the Ghetto), page 259:

     They ate unleavened bread in Passover, and blessed the moon, and counted the days of the Omer till Pentecost saw the synagogue dressed with flowers in celebration of an Asiatic fruit harvest by a European people divorced from agriculture; […]

   • 1990, Alfred J[acob] Kolatch, “The Spring Holidays II: Shavuot”, in The Jewish Home Advisor, Middle Village, New York, N.Y.: Jonathan David Publishers, →ISBN, page 243:

     Because Shavuot is celebrated on the fiftieth day after the advent of Passover, it has been called Pentecost, a Greek word meaning “fiftieth [day] after Passover". The Hebrew date is the sixth of Sivan.

3. (by extension, Christianity)
   2. A festival which falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter which commemorates the event described in Acts 2 of the Bible when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles during the Jewish festival of Pentecost (sense 1), conferring on them the miraculous ability to explain the gospel in languages they did not know; also, the Sunday on which the festival is celebrated; Whitsunday.

      (Sunday of the festival): Synonyms: Whit, Whitsun

      • c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, […], published 1599, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], signature C2, recto:

        1. Capu[let]. […] [G]ood Cozin Capulet, / For you and I are paſt our dauncing dayes: / Hovv long iſt novv ſince laſt your ſelfe and I / VVere in a maske? / 2. Capu. Be'r [By our] lady thirtie yeares. / 1. Capu. VVhat man tis not ſo much, tis not ſo much, / Tis ſince the nuptiall of Lucientio: / Come Pentycoſt as quickly as it vvill, / Some fiue and tvventy yeares, and then vve maske.

      • 1781, Edward Gibbon, “The Motives, Progress, and Effects of the Conversion of Constantine—Legal Establishment and Constitution of the Christian or Catholic Church”, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 205:

        The ſacrament of baptiſm vvas regularly adminiſtered by the biſhop himſelf, vvith his aſſiſtant clergy, in the cathedral church of the dioceſe, during the fifty days betvveen the ſolemn feſtivals of Eaſter and Pentecoſt; and this holy term admitted a numerous band of infants and adult perſons into the boſom of the church.

      • 1767, Richard Burn, “Pentecostals”, in Ecclesiastical Law. […], 2nd edition, volume III, […] H[enry Sampson] Woodfall and W[illiam] Strahan, […], for A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 80:

        [I]n a remarkable grant of king Henry the eighth to the deal and chapter of VVorceſter […] he makes over to them all thoſe oblations and obventions, or ſpiritual profits, commonly called vvhitſun-farthings, yearly collected or received of divers tovvns vvithin the archdeaconry of VVorceſter, and offered at the time of pentecoſt.

      • 1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[Ballads.] The Children of the Lord’s Supper.”, in Ballads and Other Poems, 2nd edition, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 59:

        Pentecost, day of rejoicing, had come. The church of our village / Stood gleaming white in the morning's sheen.

      • 1997, Alister E[dgar] McGrath, “The Christian Year”, in An Introduction to Christianity, Cambridge, Mass.; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Blackwell Publishers, →ISBN, part IV (The Christian Way), page 386:

        The specific event which is commemorated at Pentecost is the coming of the Holy Spirit, which is described in the Acts of the Apostles. […] Luke's description of the event focuses on the impact of the event: the disciples were empowered to preach the gospel, and to break down the barriers of language separating them and their audiences.

      • 2005, Michael Hilton, “Shavuot”, in Edward Kessler, Neil Wenborn, editors, A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, published 2008, →ISBN, page 403, column 1:

        Shavuot is linked to Passover in the same way that Pentecost is linked to Easter, by a period of seven weeks […].

   4. In full day of Pentecost or Pentecost day: the day on which the event commemorated by the festival (sense 2.1) occurred; also, the event itself.
      • 1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Number, Antiquity, Scope, Authority, and Interpreters of the Books of Holy Scripture”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC, 3rd part (Of a Christian Common-wealth), pages 204–205:

        [T]heſe three at ſeveral times did repreſent the perſon of God: Moſes, and his succeſſors the High Prieſts, and Kings of Judah, in the Old Teſtament: Chriſt himſelf, in the time he lived on earth: and the Apoſtles, and their succeſſors, from the day of Pentecoſt (vvhen the Holy Ghoſt deſcended on them) to this day.

      • 1765, Anthony Vadé [pseudonym; Voltaire, actually François-Marie Arouet], “Discourse Addressed to the Welsh. By Anthony Vade, brother of William.”, in T[obias] Smollett, T[homas] Francklin [et al.], transl., The Works of M. de Voltaire. […], volume XXV, London: […] J[ohn] Newbery, R[oberts] Baldwin, W. Johnston, S. Crowder, T[homas] Davies, J. Coote, G. Kearsley, and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, page 115:

        But pray in vvhat language did Remi preach to theſe Bructeri and Sicambri? He ſpoke either Latin or VVelſh; and the Sicambri ſpoke the antient Teutonic. Remi, in all appearance, renevved the miracle of the Pentecoſt: Et unuſquiſquis intendebat linguam ſuam, And each underſtood his ovvn language.

      • 1786, Joseph Priestley, “The Introduction: Containing a View of the Principal Arguments against the Doctrines of the Divinity and Pre-existence of Christ”, in An History of Early Opinions Concerning Jesus Christ, […], volume I, Birmingham, Warwickshire: […] [F]or the author, by Pearson and Rollaston, and sold by J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, , section II (An Argument for the Late Origin of the Doctrines of the Divinity and Pre-existence of Christ, […]), page 28:

        If it be ſuppoſed that the divinity of Chriſt vvas unknovvn to the apoſtles till the day of Pentecoſt; beſides loſing the benefit of ſeveral argments for this great doctrine, vvhich are novv carefully collected from the four evangeliſts, vve have no account of any ſuch diſcovery having been made at that time, or at any ſubſequent one.

      • 1925 September, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Witness of the Heretics”, in The Everlasting Man, 4th edition, London: Hodder and Stoughton, published January 1926, →OCLC, part II (On the Man Called Christ), page 250:

        This learned scholar [William Ralph Inge] says that Pentecost was the occasion for the first founding of an ecclesiastical, dogmatic and despotic Church utterly alien to the simple ideals of Jesus of Nazareth.

   5. Synonym of Whitsuntide (“the week beginning on Whitsunday; also, the weekend which includes Whitsunday”).
   6. (by extension) The gift of the Holy Spirit to a Christian; also, the occurrence of this.
      • 1847, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “The Problem”, in Poems, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 19:

        Ever the fiery Pentecost / Girds with one flame the countless host, / Trances the heart through chanting choirs, / And through the priest the mind inspires.

      • 2005, Frank J Lechner, John Boli, “Expanding World Culture: Pentecostalism as a Global Movement”, in World Culture: Origins and Consequences, Malden, Mass.; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Blackwell Publishing, →ISBN, page 177:

        Pentacostals claim to have a universal message. […] They think a new Pentecost is afoot, in which the Holy Spirit brings millions the good news of salvation in the hereafter and real blessings in the here and now.

      • 2012, Nimi Wariboko, “The Promise of the Pentecostal Principle: Religion as Play”, in The Pentecostal Principle: Ethical Methodology in New Spirit, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 194:

        Pentecost and pentecosts (as specific works of the Holy Spirit) are the sinew between—and the nisus of—Jesus' resurrection and the future resurrection of humankind. If resurrection is the seed, pentecost is the harvest: […] [T]he future resurrection of humankind is both revealed in and is the ground of the past Pentecost and ongoing pentecosts.

5. A surname.

• → Japanese: ペンテコステ (Pentekosuto)
• → Maori: Petekoha

• Pentecost on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Pentecost

1. alternative form of Pentecoste