Germanic calendar

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Germanic calendar

The Germanic calendars were the regional calendar

Calendar

A calendar is a system of organize days for a social, religious, commercial or administrative purpose. This organization is done by giving names to periods of time ? typically days, weeks, months and years....
s used amongst the Germanic peoples, with origins prior to the adoption of the Julian

Julian calendar

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas....
.

The months were probably lunar

Lunar month

In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two identical syzygy . There are many variations. In Middle-Eastern and European traditions, the month starts when the new moon becomes first visible at evening after Astronomical conjunction with the Sun 1 or 2 days before that evening ....
; the Old English

Old English language

Old English is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century....
"mónaþ", Old Norse "mánaðr, and Old High German "mánód", as well as the modern English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
"month", modern Icelandic

Icelandic language

Icelandic is a North Germanic languages, the language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese language and Norwegian dialects such as Telemark dialect and Sognam?l....
"mánuður", modern Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic languages language, spoken by around 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the ?land islands....
"månad", and the German

German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
"Monat", are all cognate with the word "moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the List of natural satellites by diameter satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth....
".

The Germanic peoples had their own names for the months which varied by region and dialect, which were later replaced with local adaptations of the Roman

Roman calendar

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Encyclopedia

The Germanic calendars were the regional calendar

Calendar

Julian calendar

Gregorian calendar

Lunar month

Old English language

English language

Icelandic language

Swedish language

German language

Moon

Roman calendar

The Roman calendar changed its form several times in the time between founding of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. This article generally discusses the early Roman or 'pre-Julian' calendars....
month names. However, Germanic languages have largely kept the old Germanic names for the days of the week, most of which are named after Germanic gods

Germanic mythology

Germanic mythology refers to:*any myths associated with historical Germanic paganism*Norse mythology*Continental Germanic mythology*Anglo-Saxon mythology...
.

Our main source of reference for Old English month names comes from the Venerable Bede (ca.672 - 735). He recorded the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading tribes in the south and east of Great Britain starting from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, lasting until the Norman conquest of England of 1066....
month names in his Latin work known as De temporum ratione

De temporum ratione

De temporum ratione is a treatise written in Latin by the Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon monk Bede in 725. The treatise includes an introduction to the traditional ancient and medieval view of the cosmos, including an explanation of how the spherical earth influenced the changing length of daylight, of how the seasonal motion of the Sun and Mo...
(De mensibus Anglorum).

Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was List of Frankish kings from 768 to his death. He expanded the Franks kingdoms into a Carolingian Empire that incorporated much of Western Europe and Central Europe....
(ca.742 or 747 - 814) modified the established Julian Calendar to use the agricultural Old High German

Old High German

The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of Old High German proper to 750 for this reason...
names of the months in areas under his influence. (See Julian Calendar:Month names

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar, was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, and came into force in 45 BC . It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known at least since Hipparchus....
for other examples.) They were used until the 15th century, and with some modifications until the late 18th century in Germany and in the Netherlands (sensu lato). Some of these more recent German month names are given in the table below.

Month names

Modern English	Old English	Old Norse	Old High German (and the New High German equivalent)	Poetic German / Carolingian
January	Æftera Jéola (After Yule Yule Yule or Yule-tide is a List of winter festivals that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic peoples as a Germanic paganism religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christianity festival of Christmas.... ) or Jiuli	Mörsugur (a man who eats Suet) or Jól (Yule) (the first half of the month) and Þorri (Thor) (the latter half)	Harti-mánód (New High German: Härte monat, English: Month of Severe Frost)	Hartung (Severeness), Eis-mond (Ice Month), or Schnee-mond (Snow Month)
February	Sol-mónaþ (Sol Month) or Fillibrook (Brook-Filling)	Þorri and Gói (Possibly Winter); Kyndilsmessa (candle/kindle-mass)	Hornung (Hornung, Hornets)	Hornung (Time of Hornets))
March	Hréð-mónaþ (Month of the Goddess Hréð Hretha Hretha is a deity in Anglo-Saxon paganism. Hretha is attested solely by Bede in his 8th century work De temporum ratione, chapter XV. Bede associates Hretha with the third month of his listing of the Anglo-Saxon calendar, Germanic calendar, corresponding to what is now March.... or Month of Wildness )	Gói and Ein-mánuðr	Lenzin-mánód (Lenz monat, Spring Month)	Lenzing(Springing) or Lenz-mond (Springtime Month)
April	Eostur-mónaþ("Easter Easter Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christianity liturgical year.Christians believe that Jesus was Resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after his Crucifixion of Jesus, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday , two days after Good Friday.... Month", "Spring month") (see also: Goddess Eostre Eostre *Eostre* or *Eastre* is the name of an Anglo-Saxon paganism goddess attested by the seventh-century Benedictine monk Bede's De temporum ratione .... )	Ein-mánuðr and Harpa	Óstar-mánód (Oster monat) ("Ostern Ostern The Ostern or Red Western was the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries' take on the Western movie.It generally took two forms:# Proper Red Westerns, set in America's 'Wild West', such as Czechoslovakia's Lemonade Joe , or the East-German The Sons of the Great Bear or The Oil, the Baby and the Transylvanians ,... (Easter Easter Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christianity liturgical year.Christians believe that Jesus was Resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after his Crucifixion of Jesus, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday , two days after Good Friday.... ) Month", see also Oster Oster Oster is a city located where the Oster River flows into the Desna in Chernihiv Oblast of Ukraine. As of January 1, 2005, its population is 7,100.... )	Oster-mond (see also: Goddess Eostre Eostre *Eostre* or *Eastre* is the name of an Anglo-Saxon paganism goddess attested by the seventh-century Benedictine monk Bede's De temporum ratione .... )
May	Þrimilci-mónaþ (Month of Three Milkings)	Harpa and Skerpla	Drímilki (no common NHG equivalent), Winni-mánód (Wonne monat)	Wonne-mond (Graze Month [later interpretation: Blissfulness Month])
June	Ærra Líða (Before Midsummer)	Skerpla and Sól-mánuðr (Sol month)	Bráh-mánód (Brach monat)	Brachet or Brach-mond (Fallow Month)
(None; leap month)	Þrilíða (Third Midsummer)	(none)	(none)	(none)
July	Æftera Líða (After Midsummer)	Sól-mánuðr and Heyannir (Sol Sól S?l may refer to:S?l , a goddess associated with the sun in Germanic mythologySowilo runeS?l, Lublin Voivodeship S?l, Masovian Voivodeship ... 's month, Haying)	Hewi-mánod or Hou-mánód (both Heu monat, hay month)	Heuert or Heu-mond (Hay Hay Hay is a generic term for Poaceae or legumes that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing animals like cattle, horses, domestic goat, and sheep.... Month)
August	Weod-mónaþ (Plant month)	Heyannir (Hay month)and Tvímánuðr (Double month)	Aran-mánód (Ernte monat, Month of Harvest)	Ernting or Ernte-mond (Harvesting, Crop Crop (agriculture) A crop is the annual or season's yield of any plant that is grown in significant quantities to be harvested as food, as livestock fodder, or for any other economic purpose.... Month / Harvest Harvest In agriculture, the harvest is the process of gathering mature crop from the field s. Reaping is the cutting of grain or Pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper.... Month)
September	Hálig-mónaþ (Holy Month) or Hærfest-mónaþ (Harvest Month)	Tví-mánuðr and Haust-mánuðr (Harvest/autumn month)	Witu-mánód (Holz monat, Month of Wood); or Herbist-manod (Leaves month, Herbst monat, Month of Harvest)	Scheiding (Separating) or Herbst-mond (Autumn Month)
October	Winterfylleþ (Winterfilled) or Rujern (Rye harvest)	Haust-manuðr and Gor-mánuðr	Windume-mánód (Weinlese monat, Month of Vintage)	Gilbhart / Gilbhard (Forest Yellowing, ) or Wein-mond (Wine Month)
November	Blót-mónaþ (Blót Blot A blot can refer to several different things.In biology, a Blot* is a method of transferring proteins, DNA, RNA or a protein onto a carrier.... Month)	Gor-mánuðr and Frer-mánuðr (Frost month)	Wintar-mánód (Winter monat)	Nebelung (Fog Fog Fog is a cloud bank that is in contact with the ground. A cloud may be considered partly fog; for example, the part of a cloud that is suspended in the air above the ground is not considered fog, whereas the part of the cloud that comes in contact with higher ground is considered fog.... ging) or Nebel-mond (Fog Fog Fog is a cloud bank that is in contact with the ground. A cloud may be considered partly fog; for example, the part of a cloud that is suspended in the air above the ground is not considered fog, whereas the part of the cloud that comes in contact with higher ground is considered fog.... Month) or Winter-mond (Winter Month)
December	Ærra Jéola (Before Yule Yule Yule or Yule-tide is a List of winter festivals that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic peoples as a Germanic paganism religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christianity festival of Christmas.... ) or Jiuli (Yule)	Frer-mánuðr and Morsugr or Jól (Yule month)	(Jul monat)	Jul-mond (Yule Yule Yule or Yule-tide is a List of winter festivals that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic peoples as a Germanic paganism religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christianity festival of Christmas.... Month) or Heil-mond (Holy Month) or Christ-mond (Christ Month)

External links

General information on old Germanic culture, including time.