Page "Samhain" Paragraph 6

In 1907, Whitley Stokes suggested an etymology from Proto-Celtic * samani (' assembly '), cognate to Sanskrit sámana, and the Gothic samana.

J. Vendryes concludes that these words containing * semo-(' summer ') are unrelated to samain, remarking that furthermore the Celtic ' end of summer ' was in July, not November, as evidenced by Welsh gorffennaf (' July ').

We would therefore be dealing with an Insular Celtic word for ' assembly ', * samani or * samoni, and a word for ' summer ', saminos ( derived from * samo -: ' summer ') alongside samrad, * samo-roto -.

The Irish samain would be etymologically unrelated to ' summer ', and derive from ' assembly '.