Talk:Samhainophobia/@comment-120.29.72.220-20151102051524

"The origin of the term samhainophobia traces back to the Celtic word Samhuin, meaning All Hallows Eve to Christians..."

Etymologists have given that Samhuin (samhain, samfuin) comes from Old Irish words sam "summer" + fuin "end", and denoting the beginning of winter, symbolic of death. Historians note that the festival was re-recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as a festival of (Christian) souls, in its mission to end paganism by replacing those elements with ones that are associated with the Church's teaching. Neo-pagans had re-introduced the name for the festival period in  rebellion to the Church and as a foothold to bring back elements of the pagan beliefs. Samhuin and All Hallows Eve are NOT the same holiday, but share the same day. As to the term samhainophobia, the stem samhain to represent the secular holiday Halloween, which is derived from both the festival of Samhain and the festival of All Soul's Day Eve (i.e., first day of the three-day Hallowtide) is normal in neologistic construction. The ancient Greeks did not observe either Samhain or Hallowtide, thus using the non-Greek stem is acceptable.