ABSTRACT

In two places, Irenaeus of Lyon explains the word “pascha” as meaning “liberation” or “deliverance”. As this tradition also occurs in the Onomastica Sacra, it can be identified as an etymology (and not merely an association). The two well-known etymologies of the word “pascha” drawn upon in early Christian literature, i. e., passio and transitus, are thus complemented by a third one, meaning liberatio. The appearance of this etymology in Irenaeus dates it back to the 2^nd century. Later on, it not only persistently holds its place in various versions of the Onomastica Sacra but is also attested to by Theodoret of Cyrus. As a secondary finding, πάσΧα (and not πάθoς) is shown to be the lost original Greek reading of Demonstratio praedicationis 25.