Passion Weekn.
/ˈpaʃn wiːk/, U.S. /ˈpæʃ(ə)n ˌwik/ Christian Church.
1. The fifth week in Lent, beginning with Passion Sunday. (See note at Passion Sunday n.).
ΚΠ
c1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) ii. 229 The sayd creatur & hir felawschip entryd her schip on þe Thursday in Passyon Weke.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 200 (MED) The ije. premisse of this argument is open bi what is..sungun in the ympne Vexilla Regis prodeunt, sungun in the Passion Weke in Lent.
a1500 (?c1425) Speculum Sacerdotale (1936) 101 (MED) The weke þat entreþ nowe is callid of alle men passion weke.
1852 W. F. Hook Church Dict. (ed. 6) (at cited word) Some persons call the week, of which Passion Sunday is the first day, Passion Week; and the real Passion Week they call Holy Week. This is, however, a piece of pedantry, founded on a mistake.
1891 Daily News 18 Mar. 5/5 ‘Passion Week’ is the second week before Easter..and commences on the fifth Sunday in Lent. The fortnight which includes Passion Week and Holy Week is commonly termed ‘Passiontide’.
1954 R. Macaulay Let. 6 Apr. (1962) 152 Here we are in the middle of Passion Week.
2. The week immediately preceding Easter Sunday; Holy Week. (Now the principal use.)
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > liturgical year > feast, festival > specific Christian festivals > Holy Week > [noun]
throwingeOE
passionOE
paschOE
swiwike?c1225
pace1385
Passion Weekc1460
Great Week1612
Holy Week1710
Semana Santa1831
passion-tide1847
Maundy-week1868
c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn 3804 Oppon a tuysday In the passion-woke, when men leven play, And vse more devosioune, fastyng & preyer, Then in othir tyme or seson of þe ȝeer.
1489 in T. Dickson Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1877) I. 151 Item, in Passion Wolk again Payce, for vj elne of smal braid clayth to be fut scheytis.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 252 Passyon weke, sepmaine penevse.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cccxxxiiijv On Maundy thursday in the passion weke.
1662 S. Pepys Diary 24 Mar. (1970) III. 51 I went to see if any play was acted, and I find none upon the post, it being passion week. [Easter Sunday was 30 March.]
1689 Lady Russell Let. 12 Apr. (1809) 211 By your last letter, writ some day in Passion Week, I find where you were then.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Passion-Week, the Week next before the Festival of Easter.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Holyness Holy Week, is the last Week of Lent, call'd also Passion Week.
1797 Encycl. Brit. X. 687/1 Maundy Thursday is the Thursday in Passion week.
1845 S. Austin tr. L. von Ranke Hist. Reformation in Germany (ed. 2) II. 157 On Palm-Sunday no palms were strewed; and in Passion-Week the ceremony of laying down the cross and raising it again, was omitted.
1854 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity II. iv. iii. 71 Palm Sunday, the commencement of Passion week.
1887 C. J. Ribton-Turner Vagrants & Vagrancy xxvii. 559 Allampadati, or Lampists, who during Passion Week and at the great festivals begged oil for the lamps which are lighted in front of the host.
1911 Catholic Encycl. XI. 535/2 On the Friday of Passion Week the Church..honours the Seven Dolours of Our Lady.
1969 M. Alpert tr. F. de Quevedo Swindler in Two Spanish Picaresque Novels 108 The biggest noses you've ever seen outside a Passion Week procession.
1990 Keesings Contemp. Arch. (BNC) Apr. On April 11 (mid-way through Easter Passion week) 150 orthodox Jewish settlers moved into the St. John's Hospice.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.c1438