How Did Each Month Get Its Name?

▶ In this video I talk about how each month of the year got its name, as well as some of the history that led us to have the calendar we do today.

Special mention to my patrons: Richard, Jeseenya, Francis, Edward, Stephen, MiFE, Rpgkillerspace, Wilhelm, Roland, Rami, Juan, Bruno, Albert, Lastmatix, Kalvin, Francisco, Tom, 43rpak, Chet, Ryan Keith, ou_lyss, Borton, Ryan McMurry, Pete, Cesar, Hendrick.

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[General.Knowledge]

*What are months called where you live?*

[henryespinosa]

The Gregorian calendar started in 1582 (not 1782) in Catholic countries. Great Britain and its colonies started the Gregorian calendar in 1753 and at that time the old Julian calendar was 11 days behind the seasons.

[zhigis]

Lithuania and Poland still use “germanic” style of calling months own way, linked to natural or agricultural periods. Fx. lithuanian months names: 1) Sausis, 2)Vasaris, 3)Kovas, 4)Balandis, 5)Gegužė, 6)Birželis, 7)Liepa, 8)Rugpjūtis, 9)Rugsėjis, 10)Spalis, 11)Lapkritis, 12)Gruodis

[thesteveruss]

Roman names for months and nordic/ germanic names for days ... what a mashup.

[manofculture]

Months in Hindu (Indian) calender are called,

Chaitra (30/31)
Vaisakh (31)
Jyestha (31)
Ashadha (31)
Shravan (31)
Bhadrapad (31)
Ashwina (30)
Kartik (30)
Agrahayan / Margshirsh (30)
Pausa (30)
Magha (30)
Phalguna (30)

The numbers infront of the names of months are days in it. In a leap year Chaitra month gets 31 instead of 30 days.

Hindu calender also have special feature of leap month in which after every 3 years or 4 times in every 11 years one year will have 13 instead of regular 12 months. 13th month is called Adhik Mass or Purushottam Mass (29).

It is lunisolar meaning it is constructed with respect of both sun and moon. A new month starts on every new moon day or full moon day (depends on which version you are using)

[fanteasy]

In Kazakhstan:
Қантар - Qantar (January, means day lengthening).

Ақпан - Aqpan (Feb, means blizzard month).

Наурыз - Nauryz (March, means New Year from ancient turkic language)

Сәуір - Säuyir (April, from old arabic means "Sun awakening")

Мамыр - Mamyr (May, from old turkic means satiety)

Маусым - Mausym (June, from arabic means "the season")

Шілде - Shil'de (July, from old persian means "40 hot days of summer").

Тамыз - Tamyz (August, means "to burn out everything").

Қыркүйек - Qyrkuyek (September, the sheeps and goats were tied by warm clothing (Kuyek), so that they could give offspring not earlier than May. This activity was carried out in the grasslands (Qyr).)

Қазан - Qazan (October, from old Persian means "Autumn/Fall")

Қараша - Qarasha (November, means the time, when earth become crusty and lifeless)

Желтоқсан - Zhel'toqsan (December, means "90 winds" because this month is mostly windy in Kazakhstan)

Happy New Year to all those who have read the comment up to this point! Greetings from Kazakhstan!

[croatianeurofan]

In Croatia the months are called:
1. Siječanj
2. Veljača (my birth month)
3. Ožujak
4. Travanj
5. Svibanj
6. Lipanj
7. Srpanj
8. Kolovoz
9. Rujan
10. Listopad
11. Studeni
12. Prosinac

[thomasboyd]

Some Slavic countries (Croatia and Poland for sure) have their own names for months, mostly inspired by nature and agriculture. Similar to what Charlemagne had for his realm.

[darreljones]

I noticed two errors within seconds of each other in the first minute of this video. The Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582, not 1782. And the pope's name was Gregory, not Gregorian. ("Gregorian" means "of Gregory".)

[vladutcornel]

Romanians also have traditional names for months.
Some of my favorites (i.e. the ones I can somewhat translate):
June - Cireșar (Cherry month)
June - Cuptor (Oven)
August - Secelar (grain harvest)
January - Gerar (Frost month)

[davidklein]

I never understood why they changed the beginning of the year from March to January. I make my resolutions for the year in March instead of January. Winter is the time to rest and be thankful for what you have; springtime is the time for planting and starting something new.

[joanacaetanogomes]

Another fun fact is that one month used to have 30 days, the next one 31, then the next one 30 again. August used to have 30 days, since July had 31, and September and November used to have 31 days as well while October and December 30. But the emperor Augustus wanted to have his month with the same number of days as Juliu Caesar 's month, and that's why July and August both have 31 days, and then they had to change the number of days on the last months of the year.

[polishhussarmapping]

Almost every language: let's name months similarly
Polish: we don't do that here

Styczeń
Luty
Marzec
Kwiecień
Maj
Czerwiec
Lipiec
Sierpień
Wrzesień
Październik
Listopad
Grudzień

[Island_of_Solitude]

In ukrainian language most of the month names have old slavic origins. They tend to describe some natural phenomenon which is prevalent during this month:
1. Січень (sichen') from the word сікти (to cut), because in this month winter is cut in two halves, with mild temperatures in the first half and harsh colds in the second half, and it also can mean cold which "cuts" into your skin
2. Лютий (lyutyi) which is an adjective with several meanings like severe, ferocious, wicked, angry, harsh, etc. refering to severe colds during this month
3. Березень (berezen') from the tree "береза" birch tree, because during this month birch trees were mostly dry and some of them were burned to ash which was then used as a fertilizer
4. Квітень (kviten') means flowers month or blossom month, which is pretty self explanatory
5. Травень (traven') month of grass
6. Червень (cherven') there is two possible explanations, it either means red month because many fruits and berries turn red when they ripen during this month or it means worm month, because people used to pick up pests like catterpillars in gardens. Strangely enough the word червоний (red) actually comes from a черви (worms) because there is one species of worms from which red dye used to be made.
7. Липень (lypen') from linden tree which is blooming during this month, it was important tree because many natural remedies were made from linden blossom. Earlier it this month were also called "грозник" thunder month
8. Серпень (serpen') basically month of sickle, main tool that were used during harvest season. It was also called жнивень harvest month.
9. Вересень (veresen') heather month, were also called хмурень (gloomy, cloudy month) or ревун (howler) because of howling cold winds
10. Жовтень (zhovten') yellow month, when most of the leaves on trees turns yellow
11. Листопад (lystopad) literally means fall of the leaves, defoliation
12. Грудень (hruden') from грудка (lump) because due to cold weather earth were turning into frozen lumps, clouts. Sometimes were called студень (cold, chill) month

[karlbasallote]

Here in the Philippines we use the Spanish words for the months of the year.
1. Enero
2. Pebrero
3. Marso
4. Abril
5. Mayo
6. Hunyo
7. Hulyo
8. Agosto
9. Septyembre
10. Oktubre
11. Nobyembre
12. Disyembre

[dustgreylynx]

In slavic and Baltic countries the months actually still mean something, or let's say their names are.clear to the speakers of the respective modern day languages. Here is an example of Belarusian:
Studzień - frost month
Luty- fury/blizzard month
Sakavik - juicy month
Krasavik - beauty month
Travień - grass month
Červień - red month
Lipień - linden tree month
Sierpień - sickle month
Vierasień - heather month
Kastryčnik - bonfire month
Listapad - fall of the leaves
Śniežań - snow month

[iliqiliev]

In Bulgarian the Latin names of the months are simply transcribed to Cyrillic

[xaviotesharris]

I think you'll find that Pope was named Gregory (Gregorius in Latin), and that Gregorian is the adjectival form of his name.

[yusufcankusgoz]

Let me introduce the months in Turkish 🇹🇷:

1) Ocak: literally means stove. It got its name because it is cold and everybody’s home and busy cooking.

2) Şubat: adopted from the equivalent of February in Assyrian calendar.

3) Mart: same with March.

4) Nisan: adopted from the equivalent of April in Assyrian calendar.

5)Mayıs: same with May.

6)Haziran: comes from an Assyrian word ‘hazuran’ which means hot. It basically indicates the hot season is starting.

7) Temmuz: used as ‘hell’ and ‘extreme hot’ in old Turkic. Also there is a Babylonian goddess of fertility named Tammuz.

8) Ağustos: same with August.

9) Eylül: comes from “elul” which means “harvest” in old Babylonian.

10) Ekim: gerund form of the verb “Ekmek” which means “to plant”. Therefore, it means “plantation”.

11) Kasım: comes from an Arabic word that means “to seperate”. I don’t know why but in the resources it is mentioned that people used to divide the year into two 180-day-long phases and the first phase started in November. (Maybe something with the taxes)

12) Aralık: literally means ‘in between’. It is called this way because it is the month in between the old year and the new year.


Happy new year everyone ❤️

[sisilotau]

The influence on the world Rome has left behind will never cease to amaze me.