what is the old english meaning of lent
Lent The English word Lent is a shortened form of the Old English word len(c)ten, meaning "spring season", as its Dutch language cognate lente (Old Dutch lentin)[18] still does today. A dated term in German, lenz (Old High German lenzo), is also related. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, 'the shorter form (? Old Germanic type *laŋgito- , *laŋgiton-) seems to be a derivative of *laŋgo- long ... and may possibly have reference to the lengthening of the days as characterizing the season of spring'. The origin of the -en element is less clear: it may simply be a suffix, or lencten may originally have been a compound of *laŋgo- 'long' and an otherwise little attested word *-tino, meaning 'day'.[19]