What does all the months of the year mean? The name of the Old Slavonic months of the year

It is very interesting to compare the modern and Old Slavonic names of the months. They don’t tell us anything, but in the Slavic ones you can notice features that were iconic for our ancestors. July is a sufferer, a time of hard work in the field, October is a wedding party, the best time for revelry, and December is the most severe, the time of cold weather. Folk names help to learn about the life of villagers, their observations, and signs. The traditional calendar was called the month calendar.

March

It was with this spring month that the year usually began, and not only among the Slavs, but also among the Jews, Egyptians, Romans, ancient Greeks and Persians. Traditionally, peasants associated the beginning of the new year either with the beginning of spring work, that is, preparation for sowing, or with the end. Peter the Great ordered to calculate time according to the European model.

They called the first berezen in the south, dry in the north of Rus', as well as protalnik, zimobor, beloyar. Explanation of the names of the months in a simple and intuitive manner. Dry, that is, dry, drying up spring moisture. Sokovik, birch tree - it was at this time that the birch tree began to give sap, the buds swelled. Zimobor is the first warm month after a frosty winter, conquering winter. Protalnik - the snow begins to melt. March was also called the flying month, since spring was called the flying month. There are also known variants such as droplet, morning of the year, spring, springweed, and rookery.

April

Name Old Slavonic months often associated with observations of nature. April was called primrose and pollen because at this time nature begins to bloom, the first flowers and trees begin to bloom. Snowblower, the last snow melted, caddisfly - because of drops and numerous streams, birch and birch zol - because of the awakening of white birches from sleep. The names sly and capricious are also known, because the weather this month can be very changeable, with thaws giving way to frosts. Since the month brought the first warmth, it was also called a steam room. As you can see, due to the difference in climate, in one area April was associated with the flowering of grass, and in another - only with the melting of snow.

May

The Old Slavonic names of the months of the year tell us about what processes took place at that time. The most common name for May is herbal, herbal, since it is in this month that the lush growth of vegetation begins. This is the third month of passage. May also has many popular names: pollen (the beginning of the flowering of many plants), yarets (in honor of the god Yarila), listopuk (the appearance of tufts of grass and leaves), mur (the appearance of ant grass), rosenik (due to abundant morning dew) .

June

The Old Slavonic names of the months of the year may surprise you, since many words of the language used are forgotten. For example, most often the month of June was called isok. This was the name of a common insect - the common grasshopper. It is in June that their singing can be heard most often. Another common name is worm, due to the appearance of dye worms. You can also hear kresnik (from fire, cross), skopid, grain grower (saving up the grain harvest for the whole year). For the abundance of colors and light: multi-colored, svetloyar, rose-colored, blooming, blush of the year.

July

Old Slavonic months corresponded to one of the four seasons. The middle of summer was July, which is why it was called the top of summer. Most often you can hear the name Cherven because of the numerous berries and fruits that are red in color. The linden tree comes into full bloom, it secretes sweet, sticky juice, so the second common name is limen or lipets. A sufferer - from hard labor in the fields, a thunderstorm - from numerous thunderstorms.

August

The names of the months may not reflect the occupations of the peasants at this time. In August, the harvest of grain begins, so it was most often called stubble or sickle. Known names are holosol, bread bakery, cabbage soup, and pickle. Gustar, thick-eater - this month they eat abundantly and thickly. Mezhnyak is like a boundary, the border between summer and autumn. In the north, thanks to the bright glow of the lightning, the names zarev and zarnik were in use.

September

The Old Slavonic names of the months of the year and the modern ones can be quite different. So, the ancient Russian name for September was ruin or howler, ruen - from the autumn roar of deer and other animals, possibly the winds. Frowning hints at changing weather conditions, cloudy, gloomy skies, frequent rains. The name Veresen, Veresen has several versions of its origin. In Polesie there grows a low evergreen shrub, honey heather. Its flowering begins in August-September. Another version says that such a name could come from the Ukrainian word “vrasenets”, which means frost, which can already appear in the morning. Another name for September is fieldfare.

October

The name of the Old Slavonic months often very clearly characterizes weather. You can easily guess that under the name leaf fall, October is hidden, the month in which the leaves begin to fall abundantly. Or you may recognize it under another name - padzernik, because it is at this time that flax and hemp begin to be torn and crushed. Due to frequent rains and wet weather, you can hear another name - muddy. The main agricultural work was ending, the bins were full, it was time to get married, so because of the numerous weddings, the wedding was taking place. October in Rus' was also called psyllid, turning yellow because of the golden autumn. It smelled like cabbage, that's why it's a cabbage. And also a baker and a wood sawyer.

November

Available in Old Russian language such a word is “breast”. This is land frozen with snow; even the frozen winter road was called the chest path. So November, which brought the first frosts, was most often called breast, breast or breast month. November is rich in names: deciduous, leaf fall (the last leaves fall, October gold begins to turn into humus), mocharets (heavy rains), snow and half-winter (from the first snow at the beginning of the month goes to real snowdrifts and frosts), roadless, summer offender, the beginning of winter, the eve of winter, the gates of winter, the twilight of the year (it gets dark early), the solstice (the day is quickly decreasing), the die-hard, the seven of the year, the month of the first sleigh ride (they begin to ride out on a sleigh).

December

In the cold season, such simple and speaking names, which were called the Old Slavic months. Our ancestors called December cold, jelly, cold, cold, because of the frosty cold that was common at this time. Mother winter is fierce, hence the names fierce, fierce, lute. The snowdrifts are already deep - snowfall. Cold strong winds and snowstorms prevail - windy winter, wind chime, wind chill, chills, drag, freeze.

January

The name of the Old Slavonic months is not always obvious. It might help to modern man look at familiar things a little differently. We associate January with the very height of winter, its middle. But in the old days it was called Prosinets. At this time, the weather often becomes clear, the blue sky begins to appear, and there are more sunlight, the day increases. Popular names: turning point of winter, section (winter is cut into two halves), Vasiliev month, perezimye. The frosts are still strong and not weakening - more severe, crackling.

February

The name of the Old Slavonic months may be the same for different periods of time. Good example- winter months, especially February. A common Slavic-Russian name is sechen. But snow, severe, and blizzards were also often encountered, that is, names characteristic of other winter months. One of interesting names- bokogray. On warm days, the cattle left the barn to warm their sides in the sun. Liar - on one side the barrel heats, and on the other it cools. Another popular name is wide roads. It was believed that it was in February that forest animals created couples, so the month could be called the animal wedding month.

These names are repeated from year to year, but not everyone knows why January is called January, and August is called August. It's time to lift the veil of secrecy and find out why certain months are named that way.

So, a long time ago in Ancient Rome a solar calendar was developed, which consisted of names associated with Roman gods, emperors and just numbers. It was this that was adopted as the basis and replaced the ancient Slavic calendar, which our ancestors had used for many centuries. Exist different versions why this happened, but the main one is religious. Orthodox Church sought by all means to eradicate paganism and this affected the calendar, and since Rus' in those days was in close contact with Byzantium, the Roman calendar, which it inherited from the Western Roman Empire, came in very handy. However, let's look at the months themselves and their names.

In fact, the basis of the calendar, consisting of 12 months, has been preserved; the only change affected the beginning of the year. The ancient Romans' first month was March.
March
March (lat. Martius) got its name in honor of the Roman god Mars - the god of war. The Romans revered this god and with the arrival of warm weather spring days Apparently military campaigns were planned, hence the name.
April
The name April comes from Latin word Aprilis - disclosure. This month the buds on the trees opened. There is also another version of the origin of April, from lat. apricus – warmed by the sun, sunny. However, this practically does not change the essence.
May
The month of May (Majus) is named after the Roman goddess of spring, Maia. The Romans identified Maya with the Italic goddess Maiesta, the patroness of the fertile land. This month various sacrifices were made to this goddess.

June
June (Junius) – named after the goddess Juno. Patroness of women and spouses of Jupiter. Although there is an opinion that the name June is associated with the first Roman consul Junius Brutus.

July
The month of July (Julius) is named after the famous commander and politician Julius Caesar; in principle, he started the calendar reform. Previously, the month was called “Quintilis”, which means “Fifth”.

August
Augustus (Augustus) received its name in honor of Emperor Augustus, who made his own amendments to the calendar. Previously, the month was called “Sextilis,” which means “Sixth.”


September October November December
Everything is simple here. These months simply correspond to their serial number in the list of months.
September from Lat. septem - seventh
October from Lat. octo - eighth
November from Lat. novem - ninth
Decemberfrom lat. decem - tenth
Although it should be noted that attempts to give the numbers personalized names were made more than once. Many emperors sought to immortalize their names in the names of the months. For some time, the months Tiberius, Antonius, and so on existed, but they did not take root and over time were consigned to oblivion.

January
January (Januarius) is named after the Roman god Janus. Yes, yes, that same two-faced Janus, the god of all beginnings, connecting the past and the future, the keeper of entrances and exits. Janus was also the patron saint of travelers and guardian of roads, and was revered among Italian sailors, who believed that it was he who taught people how to build the first ships.
February

February (Februarius) from lat. Februa "festival of purification". IN given month A ritual of cleansing and atonement for sins was performed. The name of the month is also associated with the Etruscan god of the underworld Februus.

How the modern calendar came about is now known quite well. Although, it may seem to some that if it is reckoned from the Nativity of Christ, then it appeared precisely at that time.

If you delve into history, you will find that the introduction of a calendar very close to the one we now use and the modern calendar differ by more than 500 years!

The calendar was introduced back in 45 BC. Julius Caesar, who reformed the old Roman calendar based on the astronomical culture of Hellenic Egypt. Of course, then this year was not considered 45 BC. Years at that time were not numbered at all, but were designated by the names of the then ruling consuls. Only in the 16th year BC did the chronology from the supposed year of the founding of Rome (753 BC) come into use.

But everything else in this calendar, named after its founder, Julius Caesar, Julian, was almost the same as in the modern one: the year was divided into 12 months, in every third of four years there were 365 days, and every fourth leap year has 366 days. Even the names of the months and the number of days in them were the same as now. The only slight difference from the modern calendar was the absence of one small correction for one day approximately every hundred years, which allows average duration year almost exactly corresponding to the astronomical year.

What do the names of the months of our year mean? It is clear that they are closely related to Roman history and culture.

January (“Janus month”) got its name in honor of the two-faced Roman god Janus. The name symbolically means “door to the year.”

February (from the Latin Februa “purification festival”) takes its name from the Etruscan god of the underworld Februus, and the purification rites associated with him, which fell on the holiday of Lupercalia (February 15), falling according to the Old Roman lunar calendar on the full moon.

March (Mars month) is named after ancient Roman god wars of Mars.

April. There are several versions about the origin of the name of this month:

- from the Latin verb aperire - “to open”, because in this month spring began in Italy, trees and flowers bloomed.

- from the Latin word apricus - “warmed by the sun.”

- from Aphrilis, which is a reference to the Greek goddess Aphrodite (also Aphros). It was this Greek goddess that corresponded to the Roman Venus, to whom April was dedicated.

May was named after the Greek goddess Maia, who was identified with the Roman fertility goddess Bona Dea (Good Goddess), whose festival fell during this time.

June (“month of Juno”). The most common version of the origin of the name of this month is its origin from the name of the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter.

July was named after Julius Caesar, who was born in this month and the founder of the calendar.

Augustus was named after Octavian Augustus. This month got its name a little later, during the reign of the emperor, after whom it was named as the happiest month for him.

All other months from September to December received their names from Latin numerals, which indicated the number of the corresponding month in the old Roman calendar. It is curious that the numbering of months in Julian calendar was shifted two months ago compared to the ancient Roman one, so now it is the ninth month - we call September by the Latin word “seventh”, the tenth - the eighth, and so on.

As for modern chronology, it was proposed by the Roman abbot Dionysius the Lesser only in 525 on the basis of the year of Christ’s birth calculated by him, and since then it began to spread throughout the world. It came to Russia quite recently, only in 1700, under Peter I.

Each year is divided into 4 seasons, and each season into 3 months. As a result, every year we live 12 months and each of them is unique in its own way and is associated for us with different events. Naturally, each month has its own unique name. Do you know where these names came from? In this article we will tell you about the origin of the names of the months.

1. January. The first month of the new year received its name in honor of the god Janus - the god of time, doors and gates. Symbolically, this can be deciphered as “Door to the New Year.”

2. February. February has always been considered the coldest month of the year. It is not for nothing that in the times of the Slavs it was called lute (“severe frost”). But the month of February itself is named after the Etruscan god Februus, the god of the underworld.

3. March. First spring month was named after the ancient Roman god of war, Mars, father of Romulus. But what does spring and the god of war have to do with it? and despite the fact that Mars was not only the god of war, but also the god of cultivators and rural workers. The ancient Slavs called this month “thawed area” because the snow began to melt and the first thawed patches appeared.

4. April. This month was again named after the ancient god, or rather the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite. In this month everything blooms and appears spring mood, that’s why the Slavs called this month pollen and berezol.

5. May. The warmest month of spring was again named after the goddess, or rather the ancient Roman goddess Maia, who personified the fertile earth and blossoming nature. The Slavs called this month “Traven”.

6. June. The first summer month was named after the famous Roman goddess Juno, who was the wife of Jupiter, the goddess of fertility, the mistress of rain and the guardian of marriage. The Slavs called this month izok (“grasshopper”) or cherven.

7. July. The hottest summer month was named, surprisingly, not in honor of a god or goddess, but in honor of the well-known Roman emperor. Before this, July was called "Quintilius", which meant "Fifth", and it was fifth because earlier a year began not in January, but in March.

8. August. The name of this month also comes from the famous Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus. Before this, the month was called “Sextile,” which meant (I think everyone understood) “Sixth.” As mentioned earlier, the year in the Roman calendar used to begin in March, which is why August was the sixth month. The Slavs called this month “Serpen”, i.e. time to mow the grass.

9. September. The name simply came from the word “Seven” (Septem - September). I think there is no need to comment here. Everything has been said above. Our ancestors called this month “Gloomy” due to the fact that during this month the sky began to frown.

10. October. Everything is similar here. The fantasy is over. The number “Eight” in Latin was pronounced “Octo”, hence October (October), i.e. eighth month. The Slavs also called kneading simply - Listopad.

11. November. No comments. Novem was translated as “Nine”, i.e. ninth month (November).

12. December. First winter month And last month passing year! But it was also named after its serial number “Tenth” (Decem - December).

And what do we see? The first 6 months were named after ancient gods and Goddesses, two summer months- in honor of the ancient Roman emperors, and the last four did not have names, so they have serial numbers. But nevertheless it is very interesting topic and you now know the origin of the names of all the months.

So, a long time ago in Ancient Rome, a solar calendar was developed, which consisted of names associated with Roman gods, emperors and just numbers. It was this that was adopted as the basis and replaced the ancient Slavic calendar, which our ancestors had used for many centuries. There are different versions of why this happened, but the main one is religious. The Orthodox Church sought by all means to eradicate paganism and this affected the calendar, and since Rus' in those days was in close contact with Byzantium, the Roman calendar, which it inherited from the Western Roman Empire, came in very handy. However, let's look at the months themselves and their names.

In fact, the basis of the calendar, consisting of 12 months, has been preserved; the only change affected the beginning of the year. The ancient Romans' first month was March.

March (lat. Martius) got its name in honor of the Roman god Mars - the god of war. The Romans revered this god and with the arrival of warm spring days, military campaigns were apparently planned, hence the name.

The name April comes from the Latin word Aprilis - opening. This month the buds on the trees opened. There is also another version of the origin of April, from lat. apricus – warmed by the sun, sunny. However, this practically does not change the essence.

The month of May (Majus) is named after the Roman goddess of spring, Maia. The Romans identified Maya with the Italic goddess Maiesta, the patroness of the fertile land. This month various sacrifices were made to this goddess.

June (Junius) – named after the goddess Juno. Patroness of women and spouses of Jupiter. Although there is an opinion that the name June is associated with the first Roman consul Junius Brutus.

The month of July (Julius) is named after the famous commander and politician Julius Caesar; in principle, he started the calendar reform. Previously, the month was called “Quintilis”, which means “Fifth”.

Augustus (Augustus) received its name in honor of Emperor Augustus, who made his own amendments to the calendar. Previously, the month was called “Sextilis,” which means “Sixth.”

September October November December

Everything is simple here. These months simply correspond to their serial number in the list of months.

September from Lat. septem - seventh
October from Lat. octo - eighth
November from Lat. novem - ninth
December from Lat. decem - tenth

Although it should be noted that attempts to give the numbers personalized names were made more than once. Many emperors sought to immortalize their names in the names of the months. For some time, the months Tiberius, Antonius, and so on existed, but they did not take root and over time were consigned to oblivion.

January (Januarius) is named after the Roman god Janus. Yes, yes, that same two-faced Janus, the god of all beginnings, connecting the past and the future, the keeper of entrances and exits. Janus was also the patron saint of travelers and guardian of roads, and was revered among Italian sailors, who believed that it was he who taught people how to build the first ships.

February (Februarius) from lat. Februa "festival of purification". In this month, a ritual of cleansing and atonement for sins was carried out. The name of the month is also associated with the Etruscan god of the underworld Februus.