When venturing out onto Stapleton Road earlier today, an unusual sight met my eyes – an open-air church service for Good Friday, the Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary.
Seeing the service in progress prompted me to look at the etymology of Good Friday. From whence does it originate.
According to Wikipedia, the etymology of the term “good” in the context of Good Friday is disputed, with some sources claiming it is from the senses pious, holy of the word “good“, whilst others contend that it is a corruption of “God Friday“. The Oxford English Dictionary supports the first etymology, giving “of a day or season observed as holy by the church” as an archaic sense of good and providing examples of good tide meaning “Christmas” or “Shrove Tuesday” and Good Wednesday meaning the Wednesday in Holy Week.
In German-speaking countries Good Friday is generally referred as Karfreitag (Kar from Old High German kara ‘bewail‘, ‘grieve‘, ‘mourn‘; Freitag for ‘Friday‘): Mourning Friday. The Kar prefix is an ancestor of the English word care in the sense of cares and woes; and thus mourning. The day is also known as Stiller Freitag (Silent Friday) and Hoher Freitag (High Friday, Holy Friday) in German-speaking countries.