Etymology of Eid

I know Vasmi thru Khalid and have met him couple of times in Khalid's Eid/Diwali parties. In his recent email he described the etymology and some interesting details of Eid. Here is the excerpt from his mail, its a nice read for people like me who didn't know what this word means:

The way the word is written in urdu (or Arabic, where it originates) is with the three letters - "ain", "ye" and "daal". Now, "ain" has a tricky sound, and an Arabic speaker will be able to pronounce it. So the word as spoken by an Arabic speaker would sound something between "A-ee-d" and "ee-d". There isn't any accurate representation in English or Devanagri. So what does the spelling "Eid" convey, and who come up with it and why? I don't know.

Anyway, the dictionary meaning of the word "eid" is "festival", so "eid mubaarak" is literally a pretty generic greeting - "festival greetings". The full name of this particular festival is "eid-ul-fitr", which translates to "festival of the breaking of the fast". Breaking of the daily ramzaan (or "Ramadan" - but that's another story!)  fast is called "aftaar". The word "fitr" is related to that. Giving charity (fixed amount per household member) is obligatory, and that is called "fitraa".
It is customary to pay out the fitra just after the eid prayers.

Interestingly, the amount of the "fitra" is determined based on the current price of grain, and so varies a bit every year. Eid marks the end of the month of Ramadan. Hence it is the first day of the next month, which is called "Shawwaal", and is the tenth month of the lunar calendar.