Editing Whitsun (section)

==Etymology==
The name is a contraction of "White Sunday", attested in "the Holy Ghost, whom thou didst send on Whit-sunday"<ref>{{cite book|last= Skeat |first= Walter William |author-link= Walter William Skeat |title= An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language |edition= 3rd |year= 1898 |orig-year= 1882 |publisher= [[Oxford University Press#Clarendon Press|Clarendon Press]] |url= https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict00skea_1 |page= [https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict00skea_1/page/708 708] |isbn= 978-0-19-863104-0 |quote= the Holy Ghost, whom thou didst send on Whit-sunday; O. Eng. Homilies, i. 209, 1. 16.}}</ref> in the [[Old English]] [[homilies]], and parallel to the mention of {{lang|ang|hwitmonedei}} in the early 13th-century ''[[Ancrene Riwle]]''.<ref>Both noted in Walter William Skeat, ''An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language'', ''s.v.'' "Whitsun".</ref> [[Walter William Skeat]] noted that the [[Anglo-Saxon]] word also appears in Icelandic ''hvitasunnu-dagr'', but that in English the feast was called ''Pentecoste'' until after the [[Norman Conquest]], when ''white'' ({{lang|enm|hwitte}}) began to be confused with ''wit'' or understanding.<ref>Skeat.</ref> According to one interpretation, the name derives from the white garments worn by [[catechumen]]s, those expecting to be [[Baptism|baptised]] on that Sunday.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Campion |first1=William Magan |author-link=William Magan Campion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D8QCAAAAQAAJ&q=Whitsunday+baptized&pg=PA125 |title=The Prayer book interleaved with historical illustrations and explanatory notes arranged parallel to the text |volume=5 |year=1870 |page=125 |access-date=2017-06-05 }}</ref> Moreover, [[Sarum Use|in England]] white vestments, rather than the more usual red, were traditional for the day and its [[octave (liturgical)|octave]].{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} A different tradition is that of the young women of the parish all coming to church or chapel in new white dresses on that day. However, Augustinian canon [[John Mirk]] (c. 1382–1414), of [[Lilleshall]] Abbey, Shropshire, had another interpretation:

<blockquote>
Goode men and woymen, as ȝe knowen wele all, þys day ys called Whitsonday, for bycause þat þe Holy Gost as þys day broȝt wyt and wysdome ynto all Cristes dyscyples.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/mirksfestialcoll00mirk#page/158/mode/2up Theodore Erbe (editor) (1905). ''Mirk's Festial: a Collection of Homilies'', Kegan Paul et al., for the Early English Text Society, p.159] accessed 15 December 2014 at Internet Archive.</ref>
</blockquote>

Thus, he thought the root of the word was "wit" (formerly spelt "wyt" or "wytte") and Pentecost was so-called to signify the outpouring of the wisdom of the Holy Ghost on Christ's disciples.<ref>{{cite news|title=Whitsuntide|last=Anon|date=29 May 1869|work=[[The Manchester Times]]|location=Manchester, UK}}</ref>

The following day is [[Whit Monday]], a name coined to supersede the form ''Monday in Whitsun-week'' used by [[John Wycliffe]] and others. The week following Whit Sunday is known as "Whitsuntide" or "Whit week".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Whitsuntide|title=Whitsuntide|last=Anon|work=The Free Online Dictionary|publisher=Farlex Inc|access-date=25 May 2010}}</ref>