† Lokesn.

Etymology: probably a use of the plural of lock n.² a translation of Old French closes Pentecoste, medieval Latin clausum Pentecostes, lit. ‘the close of Pentecost’. For examples of the Old French and medieval Latin terms see J. M. Manly in Harvard Studies Philol. & Lit. I. (1892) 88 ff. The main difficulty is that these terms appear, whenever their sense can be determined, to mean the octave of Pentecost, or Trinity Sunday. Prof. Manly, however, points out that there is evidence that ‘Pentecost’ was sometimes used for the season beginning at Easter and closed by Whitsunday, so that the transference of the name ‘close of Pentecost’ from Trinity Sunday to Whitsunday, though lacking direct evidence, is not improbable. The use may have been merely local English; the Ayenbite and Shoreham both belong to Kent.

Obsolete. rare.

Whitsunday.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > worship > liturgical year > feast, festival > specific Christian festivals > Pentecost > [noun]

PentecosteOE

WhitsundayOE

Whitsundaya1250

Whitsuntidec1275

Lok-Soundayc1315

Lokes1340

Whitsun Sunday1532

White Sunday1546

W.c1565

Whit week1728

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 213 At lokes [Fr. a Penthecouste].

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 143, 263.

Derivatives

Lok-Sounday n.

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