The Reckoning of Time

Description

From the patristic age until the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582, computus -- the science of time reckoning and art of calendar construction -- was a matter of intense concern. Bede's *The Reckoning of Time* ( *De temporum ratione* ) was the first comprehensive treatise on this subject and the model and reference for all subsequent teaching discussion and criticism of the Christian calendar. It is a systematic exposition of the Julian solar calendar and the Paschal table of Dionysius Exiguus, with their related formulae for calculating dates. But it is more than a technical handbook. Bede sets calendar lore within a broad scientific framework and a coherent Christian concept of time, and incorporates themes as diverse as the theory of tides and the doctrine of the millennium.This translation of the full text of The Reckoning of Time includes an extensive historical introduction and a chapter-by-chapter commentary. It will interest historians of medieval science, theology, and education, Bede scholars and Anglo-Saxonists, liturgists, and Church historians. It will also serve as an accessible introduction to computus itself. Generations of medieval computists nourished their expertise in Bede's orderly presentation; modern scholars in quest of safe passage through this complex terrain can hope for no better guide.* * * *OED* cites this regarding [the etymology of the word "Easter"](http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/59097?#etymSummary):> **Origin:** A word inherited from Germanic.> **Etymology:** Cognate with Old Dutch *ōster-* (in *ōstermānōth* April, lit. ‘Easter-month’), Old Saxon *ōstar-* (in *ōstarfrisking* paschal lamb; Middle Low German *ōsteren* , *ōstern* , plural), Old High German *ōstara* (usually in plural *ōstarūn* ; Middle High German *ōster* (usually in plural *ōstern* ), German *Ostern* , singular and (now chiefly regional) plural), probably **Bede ( *De Temporum Ratione* 15\. 9: see quot. below) derives the word ** *a* 735 Bede *De Temporum Ratione* xv **[PDF p. 158] **Eostur-monath, qui nunc paschalis mensis interpretatur, quondam a dea illorum quae Eostre vocabatur, et cui in illo festa celebrabant, nomen habuit, a cujus nomine nunc paschale tempus cognominant, consueto antiquae observationis vocabulo gaudia novae solemnitatis vocantes.**> Compare Old English *Ēastermōnað* April, cognate with or formed similarly to Old Dutch *ōstermānōth* (in a translation from German), Old High German *ōstarmānōd* (Middle High German *ōstermānōt* , German *Ostermonat* , now archaic) A borrowing of the Old English word into West Slavonic (during the time of the Anglo-Saxon mission to Germany) perhaps underlies Polabian *jostråi* , Lower Sorbian *jatšy* , (regional) *jastry* , Kashubian *jastrë* , all in sense ‘Easter’; however, it has been argued that these are rather to be derived from a native base meaning ‘clear, bright’, and thus (via a connection with the coming of spring) show a parallel development to the Germanic word.> The form of the word in Old English shows much (especially dialectal) variation: in West Saxon usually a weak feminine plural ( *Ēastran* ; frequently in form *Ēastron* (also *Ēastrun* ), probably reflecting a variant form of the Germanic thematic element: see A. Campbell *Old Eng. Gram.* (1959) §619.1), also occasionally found in the singular ( *Ēastre* ); an apparently strong feminine plural by-form ( *Ēastra* ), apparently Mercian, is rarely attested; in Northumbrian usually a strong neuter plural ( *Ēostru* , *Ēostro* ), also occasionally found in the singular (sometimes apparently invariably as *Ēostro* , sometimes in inflected forms, e.g. genitive *Ēostres* ). The combining form *Ēaster* is widely attested.> The [β. forms](http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/59097?rskey=z5llvX&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid202690908) represent Old English *Ēastran* (the form of both the weak feminine plural and the inflected form of the weak feminine singular) and its later reflexes. The forms of some compounds in Middle English and early modern English may reflect compounds of the Old English weak feminine genitive singular or plural (respectively *Ēastran* and *Ēastrena* ).