- Sabbath (n.)
- Old English sabat "Saturday," observed by the Jews as a day of rest, from Latin sabbatum, from Greek sabbaton, from Hebrew shabbath, prop. "day of rest," from shabath "he rested." The Babylonians regarded seventh days as unlucky, and avoided certain activities then; the Jewish observance may have begun as a similar custom.
From the seventh day of the week, it began to be applied early 15c. to the first day (Sunday), a change completed during the Reformation. The original meaning is preserved in Spanish Sabado, Italian Sabbato, and other languages' names for "Saturday." Hung. szombat, Rumanian simbata, French samedi, German Samstag "Saturday" are from Vulgar Latin sambatum, from Greek *sambaton, a vulgar nasalized variant of sabbaton.