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Greek πάσχα was neuter and invariable in form; the Latin word is found with various declension patterns and genders.
Inflection as a neuter noun of the first declension (spelled in the nominative, accusative and ablative singular as pascha, in the dative and genitive singular as paschae, and taking neuter agreement) although unique, is attested in a number of Christian sources. In sources where the genitive/dative singular is unattested, the nominative/accusative/ablative singular forms could instead be interpreted as examples of an invariable declension.
The alternative third-declension stem paschat- (as in the genitive singular form paschatis) was presumably created by analogy to third-declension neuter nouns from Greek that end in -ma and have stems in -mat-.
It can also be found as a feminine first-declension noun, inflected regularly.
The word is rarely plural (some grammarians describe the plural as lacking);[n 1] however, a neuter plural form pascha is attested in the commentary of Jerome on the book of Isiah ("tria pascha").
^ Donatus Graecus a:[4] "Nominativo hoc Pascha, genitivo huius Paschae, dativo huic Paschae, accusativo hoc Pascha, vocativo o Pascha, ablativo ab hoc Pascha; pluralia non habet." Pompeius:[5] "Item in genere neutro numeri tantum modo pluralis, Saturnalia Vulcanalia Compitalia. Idcirco etiam debemus hoc animadvertere, quod aliquis obiecit. Quaerebatur "Pascha" cuius esset numeri. Dies festus est. Omnia nomina dierum festorum numeri sunt tantum pluralis, Vulcanalia Compitalia. Dicebat ille qui obiciebat etiam hoc numeri esse tantum pluralis. Sed sunt causae quae repugnant: primo, quod illa nomina in "ia" exeunt, Vulcanalia Saturnalia Compitalia, et habent principale suum, unde oriantur, Vulcanal Vulcanalia, Minerval Minervalia , Compital Compitalia, habent principale suum, unde oriantur; hoc non habet, nec ita exit in "ia", sed in "a". Deinde hoc nomen latinum est, a latinitate descendit; illud vero graecum est. Et novimus nomina graeca, quae ita exeunt apud Graecos, puta "colyma colymata, pegma pegmata, stemma stemmata". Ista neutralia quae sunt et sic exeunt, cum coeperint transire in numerum pluralem, necesse habent ut in "ta" exeant. Quo modo ergo vis esse hoc? Ut graecam sequaris rationem, aut ut latinam? Si graecam vis sequamur rationem, non habet numerum pluralem in "ta" exeuntem; si latinam, non habet "ia". Unde constat non esse numeri pluralis. Ergo sunt nomina numeri tantum pluralis, ut Minervalia Vulcanalia et similia."
References
^ Richard Haynes (1843) A Commentary on the Eton Latin Grammar, page 12: “Perhaps there is only one instance of a neuter noun of the first declension: viz., pascha—the passover”
^ Claude Lancelot (1761) Nouvelle méthode pour apprendre facilement la langue latine, page 49:
Pascha, est du Neutre. : Pascha próximum, Pâque prochain; & se décline de la premiere ou de la troisiéme: Pascha, æ, Pascha, ătis. [...] les Grecs l'ont fait Neutre, parce qu'ils l'ont pris comme indéclinable [...] les Latins les ont suivis dans le Genre, quoiqu'ils ayent décliné ce nom, ou de la premiere, ou de la troisiéme
Pascha, is of the neuter. : Pascha próximum, next Passover; and is declined in the first or the third: Pascha, æ, Pascha, ătis. the Greeks made it neuter, because they took it as indeclinable the Latins followed them in the gender, although they declined this noun, either in the first or in the third declension
^ Harting-Correa, Alice (1996) Walahfrid Strabo's Libellus de exordiis et incrementis quarundam in observationibus ecclesiasticis rerum: a translation and liturgical commentary, →ISBN, page 256: “492.33 LEGALE PASCHA PERFECIT: As was customary by the Carolingian period, Walahfrid treats pascha, paschae as a neuter noun, although Jerome and other fathers had declined the neuter pascha, paschatis”
^ Federica Ciccolella (2008) Donati Graeci: Learning Greek in the Renaissance, Brill, page 271
^ Heinrich Keil (1857) Grammatici latini, volume 5, page 177
Further reading
“pascha”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
pascha in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
pascha in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
