Expertlatin
The English word "Passover" is a translation of the holiday's name in Hebrew, Pesach, which means to "skip," "omit," or "pass over". Traditionally the name is believed to have originated with God "passing over" the homes of the Jews when he was killing the firstborn sons of Egypt.
- How did the Passover get its name?
- What does the word Passover actually mean?
- What does Pesah mean in Hebrew?
- Who invented the word Passover?
How did the Passover get its name?
According to the Book of Exodus, God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to mark a lamb's blood above their doors in order that the Angel of Death would pass over them (i.e., that they would not be touched by the tenth plague, death of the firstborn).
What does the word Passover actually mean?
Passover, Hebrew Pesaḥ or Pesach, in Judaism, holiday commemorating the Hebrews' liberation from slavery in Egypt and the “passing over” of the forces of destruction, or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites, when the Lord “smote the land of Egypt” on the eve of the Exodus.
What does Pesah mean in Hebrew?
It comes from the Hebrew word pesaḥ. Its translation, Passover, is a noun form of the verb phrase pass over. The term is used in reference to the story of how the Angel of Death passed over the houses of the Israelites during a plague sent by God to kill the firstborn sons of the Egyptians.
Who invented the word Passover?
annual Jewish feast instituted to commemorate the escape from Egypt, 1530, coined by Tyndale from verbal phrase pass over, to translate Hebrew ha-pesah "Passover," from pesah (see paschal), in reference to the Lord "passing over" the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he killed the first-born of the Egyptians ( ...
