samhuinn

Hallow-tide, Irish samhain, Early Irish samuin, samain, samfhuin: usually regarded as for *sam-fuin, "summer-end", from sam, summer, and fuin, end, sunset, fuinim, I end, *vo-nesô, root nes, as in còmhnuidh, q.v. (Stokes). For fuin, Kluge suggests *wen, suffer (Gothic winnan, suffer); Zimmer favours Sanskrit van, hurt (English wound); and Ascoli analyses it into fo-in-. Dr Stokes, however, takes samain from the root som, same (English same, Greek $$Go$$`mós, like, Latin simul, whence English assemble; See samhuil), and makes *samani- mean "assembly" - the gathering at Tara on 1st November, while Cét-shamain, our Céitein, was the "first feast", held on 1st May.