dominical letter

American  

noun

1. any one of the letters from A to G used in church calendars to mark the Sundays throughout any particular year, serving primarily to aid in determining the date of Easter.

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dominical letter British  

noun

1. Christianity any one of the letters A to G as used to denote Sundays in a given year in order to determine the church calendar

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Etymology

Origin of dominical letter

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dominical letter

For New Style we have 4 - 2 = 2; therefore, B being the second letter, is dominical letter for the year 450.

From Our Calendar by Packer, George Nichols

B is also dominical letter, New Style; for we take the remainder after dividing by 7, from the same number.

From Our Calendar by Packer, George Nichols

Again we have for the year 3, 10 - 3 = 7; therefore, G being the seventh letter, is dominical letter for the year 3.

From Our Calendar by Packer, George Nichols

To find the dominical letter for 1620, we have 1620 ÷ 4 = 405; 1620 + 405 = 2025; 2025 ÷ 7 = 289, remainder 2.

From Our Calendar by Packer, George Nichols

For this purpose divide the date by 28, and the letter opposite the remainder, in the first column of figures, is the dominical letter of the year.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" by Various