"festival of the Holy Innocents" (Dec. 28), late Old English *cildramæsse (c. 1000), from obsolete plural of child (q.v.) + mass (n.2). It commemorates the slaughter of children in and around Bethlehem by order of Herod (Matthew ii.16-18).

1660s, "pertaining to the Pentecost," from Latin pentecostalis (Tertullian), from pentecoste (see Pentecost). With a capital P- and meaning "Pentecostalist," in reference to Christian sects emphasizing gifts of the Holy Spirit (Acts ii), it is attested from 1904 (noun and adjective). Related: Pentecostalism (1932); Pentecostalist.

"desecrate, treat (holy things) with irreverence," late 14c., prophanen, from Old French profaner, prophaner (13c.) and directly from Latin profanare (in Medieval Latin often prophanare) "to desecrate, render unholy, violate," from profanus "unholy, not consecrated" (see profane (adj.)). Related: Profaned; profaning.

c. 1300, gral, "the Holy Grail," from Old French graal, greal "Holy Grail; cup," earlier "large shallow dish, basin," from Medieval Latin gradalis, also gradale, grasale, "a flat dish or shallow vessel." The original form is uncertain; the word is perhaps ultimately from Latin crater "bowl," which is from Greek krater "bowl, especially for mixing wine with water" (see crater (n.)).

Holy Grail is Englished from Middle English seint gral (c. 1300), also sangreal, sank-real (c. 1400), which seems to show deformation as if from sang real "royal blood" (that is, the blood of Christ) The object had been inserted into the Celtic Arthurian legends by 12c., perhaps in place of some pagan otherworldly object. It was said to be the cup into which Joseph of Arimathea received the last drops of blood of Christ (according to the writers who picked up the thread of Chrétien de Troyes' "Perceval") or the dish from which Christ ate the Last Supper (Robert de Boron), and ultimately was identified as both ("þe dische wiþ þe blode," "Joseph of Aramathie," c. 1350?).

masc. proper name, from Latin Maximus and Aemilianus, both proper names. According to Camden, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III (1415-1493) coined the name and gave it to his son in hopes the boy would grow up to have the virtues of Fabius Maximus and Scipio Aemilianus.

in reference to the pre-1933 democratic government of Germany, 1932, from name of city in Thuringia where German constitution was drawn up in 1919. The place name is a compound of Old High German wih "holy" + mari "lake" (see mere (n.1)).