Resurrection

Resurrection \rez-uh-REK-shuhn\ , noun;
1. The act of rising from the dead
2. With a capital 'r': The rising of Christ after His death and burial
3. With a capital 'r': The rising of the dead on Judgement Day
4. The state of those risen from the dead
5. A rising again, as from decay, disuse, etc.; revival
6. Christian Science: A rising above mortality through the understanding of spiritual life as demonstrated by Jesus Christ

I just got back from a wonderful Easter Vigil at St. Joe's and found this word in my inbox as the Oxford English Dictionary's word of the day. Well done, OED.

Dating to the late 13th century, the origin of resurrection is Anglo-French resurrectiun from Old French resurrection. The Old French word derives from Late Latin resurrectionem ("a rising again from the dead") which comes from the past participle stem of Latin resurgere ("rise again").

Originally resurrection was reserved for the Church festival, Easter, and the generalized sense of "revival" emerged in the 1640's. In Middle English (1300's) it was also used to refer to the rising of the dead on Judgement Day.

Resurrection replaced a very old word, ærist, which was first attested in the early 9th century. It's meaning was "rising, rise from a seat or bed; sunrise" or "rising from the dead, resurrection."

From a blog