POPULAR MONTHS OF THE EUROPEAN PEOPLES.
In ancient times, and even at the present day in lands which lie
outside the path of the great leveller, civilisation, the months
taken over with the Roman calendar are not numbered divisions of
the year, the names of which are a matter of indifference, but
are concretely conceived and named as seasons. They are, in fact,
nothing but seasons, the number and duration of which are determined
by the conventional calendar. The striving after concreteness
which characterises not too highly civilised man leads to the
abolition of the obscure and unintelligible Roman names of months,
and the substitution of other names describing the season, or more
rarely taken from some great festival falling within the month.
Only the Hungarian months are entirely named after ecclesiastical
festivals[984]. It is also found that the Latin names are as far as
possible rendered intelligible by popular etymology.
These statements are well illustrated by the names given to the
months by the Greek peasants of Macedonia. It is said of the
latter that they measure time not so much by the conventional
calendar as by the labours and the festivals characteristic of the
different seasons. Seed-time, harvest and vintage, the feast of
Saint George, the midsummer fires are some of the notable occasions
in the life of the peasant, and these have impressed themselves
upon the names of the months. The names are:--1, Γεννάρης, derived
from γεννοῦν, also called μεγάλος or τρανὸς μῆνας in opposition to
February, and Κλαδευτής on account of the pruning of the vines;
2, Φλεβά ρης, ‘Vein-sweller’, the veins (φλέβες) of the earth
are swollen with water (cf. the English folk-name for this month,
‘February fill-dyke’), or μικρὸς μῆνας, κουτσοφλέβαρος; 3, Μάρτης,
ὁ φουσκοδενδρίτης, ‘the tree-sweller’, Γδάρτης, ‘the flayer’, on
account of the bitterly cold wind; 4, Ἀπρίλης, Ἁγιογεωργίτης, from
the feast of Saint George on the 23rd; 5, Μάης; 6, Θεριστής, harvest
month; 7, Ἁλωνιστής, Ἁλωνάρης, threshing-floor month; 8, Αὔγουστος;
9, Τρυγητής, vintage month, Σταυριώτης, from the Feast of the
Exaltation of the Precious Cross, held on the 14th; 10, Ὀχτώβριος,
Ἁγιοδημητριάτης, from the feast of Saint Demetrios on the 26th; 11,
Σποριᾶς, sowing month, Ἀντρεάς, from the feast of Saint Andrew on
the 30th; 12, Νικολαίτης, from the feast of Saint Nicholas on the
6th[985].
The Albanian names of months are similar:--1, T(osk) Ϳεννάρι, G(heg)
Καλενδούρι, New Year month (_Kalendae_); 2, Σκουρτι, i. e. ‘short’;
3, T. Μαρσι, G. Φρουρι; 4, Πριλι; 5, Μαϳι; 6, Κορρίκου, harvest
month; 7, T. (Ἀ)λονάρι, ‘threshing-floor month’ (a Greek loan-word),
G. Κϳέρσουρι, probably ‘cherry month’; 8, Γόστι; 9, Βϳέστεα, autumn
month, literally ‘bare month’, also βϳέστ’ επάρε, first autumn;
10, σε Μίτρε, month of Saint Demetrius, also βϳεστ’ ε δύτε, second
autumn; 11, T. σε Μεχίλ, month of St. Michael, G. σε Μερί ε Στρούγες,
month of the Virgin of Struga, also βϳεστ’ ε τρέτε, third autumn; 12,
σε Νδερέ, month of St. Andrew[986].
The various Celtic series I omit[987], since they are very obscure
and no new material is at my disposal; I shall only remark that they
shew a mixture of distorted Latin and of native names, the latter
being taken, at least in part, from the phenomena of the vegetation.
The Basque names of months are:--1, New Year month or black month;
2, bull or wolf month; 3, tepid month; 4, weeding or fasting-bread
month; 5, leaf month; 6, seed-time (_sic!_), bean or barley month;
7, harvest or wheat month; 8, month of drought; 9, fern or ear
month; 10, gathering month; 11, sowing month or forest-clearing; 12,
binding up of vegetation (?). They refer therefore throughout to the
vegetation and to agriculture. For four months the Latin names are
also in use[988].
I have purposely placed in the foreground these mingled series
arising in modern times, since they shew how little the people can
reconcile themselves to the unintelligible Latin names, and how the
latter are crowded out by native names which by their relation to
seasons, occupations, and festivals offer points of reference easy
to remember. The months are nothing but seasons, the length and
situation of which are regulated by the Julian calendar.
The Lithuanian and Lettish names of months refer exclusively to
natural phenomena and the occupations of agriculture. The Lithuanian
series is:--1, unexplained; 2, jackdaw month; 3, dove month; 4, birch
month, or birch water-flowing; 5, cuckoo month; 6, fallow or sowing
month; 7, linden month; 8, hot month or rye-cutting; 9, autumn month;
10, leaf-fall; 11, month of clods; 12, month of dryness (frost).
The Lettish names are:--1, winter month; 2, snow or fasting-month;
3, dove or snow-crust month; 4, birch-sap month; 5, leaf month; 6,
fallow or blossoming month; 7, hay or linden month; 8, rye month or
dog (-days); 9, heath-blossom month; 10, autumn month; 11, frost
month; 12, wolf month or Christmas[989].
Very similar but much more numerous and fluctuating are the names
of months among the Slavonic peoples, collected by Miklosich along
with the names of months of a number of other peoples. Yermoloff
in his great work on the popular Russian calendar gives only a
limited number of names, and these are rarely translated: with a
few exceptions these names will be found in Miklosich. The latter
writer has classified and discussed the names under their proper
headings as follows:--(1) names taken from the vegetable kingdom,
18 in number; (2) from the animal kingdom, 9; (3) from natural
phenomena in general, 17; (4) from periodically recurring actions,
10; (5) from customs and festivals, 25; in addition to which there
are a few unexplained and three Latin names. Since it is my purpose
to give an idea not only of the variety of the names but also of
the fluctuating relationship with the Julian months, I arrange
the material of Miklosich’s first four groups according to the
months, omitting isolated and uncertain names. If the statement as
to the corresponding Julian month in Miklosich is not clear, I add
a mark of interrogation. I am also indebted to Prof. G. Kazarow
of Sofia for detailed information as to the Bulgarian names of
months, and for extracts from the Bulgarian work of Kovatschev on
popular astronomy and meteorology; these sources are referred to
respectively as Kaz. and Kov. An asterisk prefixed to the name of
a month means that the same name is given to another month also;
if prefixed to the abbreviation denoting the country, the asterisk
shews that the name is given to two different months in that country.
The names refer to:--1, _January_, *‘month of clods’, Czech, since
the hard frost turns the earth into clods; ‘ice month’, Czech;
*‘increasing of the day-light’, Old Bulg., Slovak, Croat.; ‘cold
month’, Pol., Bulg.; *‘the Cutter’, Slovak, Bulg., Serb., which
Miklosich rightly refers to the felling of trees, Yermoloff and
others less well to the piercing cold; ‘the Great Cutter’, Bulg.;
*‘kindling of the wheel’, *Bulg. (Kaz.)[990]. 2, _February_, ‘the
Side-warmer’, Russ. (Yermoloff), _latera calefaciens_, i. e. the
time when the cattle leave their stalls in order to warm themselves
in the open (Miklosich); ‘the savage month’, Ruthen., Pol.; *‘the
dry month’, *Slovak; ‘the snowy month’[991]; ‘wedding month’,
Old Russ.[992]; *‘the Cutter’, Old Bulg., Croat.; ‘the Little
Cutter’, Bulgarian. 3, _March_, *‘birch month’, Slovak, Ruthen.,
refers to the sap of the birch which now begins to flow; *‘grass
month’, *Slovak; ‘time of deceitful weather’, Bulg.? Serb.? Old
Bulg.; *‘the dry month’, Old Bulg., *Slovak, Croat.; ‘beginning
of summer’ (_lêtnik_, Kaz.). 4, _April_, *‘birch month’ (in three
different forms), *Old Bulg., Ruthen.; *‘blossoming month’, *Croat.,
Ruthen., Pol.; ‘oak month’, Czech, because the oak comes into
leaf; *‘grass month’, *Slovak, *Croat., *Serb.; ‘the Liar’, or
‘the month that deceives the grass’, Bulg., (_lǎžko_, _lǎži-trev_,
Kaz.); ‘the Fleecer’, ‘the Fleece-seller’, Bulg. (Kov., cf.
Greek γδάρτης). 5, _May_, *‘blossoming month’, Slovak, *Croat.,
Czech, Bulg. (Kov.); *‘rose-blossoming month’, High Sorb.; *‘grass
month’, Old Bulg., *Slovak, *Croat., Ruthen., Czech, Bulg.; ‘cornel
month’, Sloven.; ‘maize-hoeing’, Bulg. (Kov.); *‘cherry month’,
Bulg. (Kov.); *‘cochineal month’, Bulg. (_červenijat_, Kov.). 6,
_June_, ‘bean-blossoming month’, Slovak; *‘cherry month’, Serb.,
*Bulg. (Kov., cf. the Albanian July); ‘month of ears’, Slovak;
*‘linden month’, Slovak, Serb., since the linden blossoms then;
*‘rose-blossoming month’, Low Sorb., Czech; ‘Mower’, Bulg. (Kov.);
‘hay-cutting’, Bulg. (Kaz.); *‘cochineal month’, Ruthen., Bulg.,
Czech, because the cochineals used for red dye are then collected;
‘grasshopper month’, Old Bulg.; ‘milk month’, Slovak; ‘fallow month’,
Slovak, High Sorb. 7, _July_, *‘linden month’, Ruthen., Pol.;
*‘cochineal month’, Old Bulg., Pol., Czech[993]; ‘the hot (month)’,
Serb., Slovak, Bulg.; ‘hay month’, Ruthen., Bulg., Russ.; *‘cutting
month’, Czech, refers to the hay-cutting; *‘harvest month’, Low
Sorb.; ‘the Harvester’, Bulg. (Kaz.); *‘sickle month’, Old Bulg.,
Slovak, Serb., Bulg. (Kov.). 8, _August_, ‘month of ripeness’,
Russ.; *‘sickle month’, Ruthen., Czech, Pol.; *‘cutting month’, in
Moravia and among the Slovaks; ‘barley month’, Low Sorb.; *‘harvest
month’, High Sorb., Bulg. (Kaz.); ‘threshing-floor month’, Bulg.
(Kov., cf. Greek-Albanian Ἁλωνάρης); ‘fruit month’, Bulg. (Kov.);
*‘gadfly month’, *Slovak, Ruthen.; ‘beginning of the lowing’
(i. e. the rutting of the deer, _zarev_), Old Bulg.; ‘time when
people are carting’ (no doubt on account of the bringing in of the
harvest), Slovak, Serb.; ‘dryer up of the rivers’, Bulg. (Kov.). 9,
_September_, ‘sowing month’, Bulg. (Kov.); ‘month of gathering’,
Bulg. (Kov.); *‘heath-plant month’, Old Bulg., Pol., Ruthen., (Czech,
July or August); *‘time when the goats rut’, *Slovak; *‘gadfly
month’, *Slovak; ‘the gloomy month’, Old Russ.[994]; *‘month of
lowing’, ‘of rutting’, (_záži_) *Czech, (_rujan_, and kindred words)
Old Bulg., Serb., Bulg., Old Russ., Czech (earlier); ‘gathering
of the clusters’, Bulg.; ‘month of the (winter-)sowing’, Ruthen.;
‘old women’s summer’, Ruthen., Pol. (?); ‘autumn’, Russ., Slovak.
10, _October_, *‘leaf-fall’, Old Bulg., Serb., *Bulg. (Kaz.); ‘the
yellow (month)’, Ruthen.; *‘time when the goat ruts’, *Slovak;
*‘month of the lowing’ (_řijen_), Czech (present day); ‘time of
flax-preparing’ (the name comes from a term for the waste products
of the flax), Ruthen., Pol.; ‘vine month’, Slovak, Serb.; ‘gathering
of the maize’, Bulg. (Kov.); ‘month of dirt’, Russ.; ‘the autumnal
(month)’, Bulg. (Kaz.). 11, _November_, *‘leaf-fall’, Slovak,
Ruthen., Czech, Pol., *Bulg. (Kov.); *‘time when the goat ruts’,
*Slovak; *‘month of clods’, Old Bulg., Russ.; ‘threshing month’, Low
Sorb. 12, _December_, ‘wolf month’, Czech, High Sorb. (rutting-time
of the wolves); *‘month of clods’, Slovak, Croat., Ruthen. (?), Pol.;
*‘increasing of the day-light’ (?), Serb., Russ.(?), Czech; ‘month of
the snow-storm’, Ruthen.; ‘winter month’, Bulg. (Kov.); *‘kindling
of the wheel’, *Bulg. (Kov., see above). More rarely the festivals
give their names to the months. This is the case with Christmas,
Candlemas, All Saints’ Day, the festival of the birth of the Virgin,
and the feast of the Rosalia (= Whitsun), Slovak, Bulg. (Kaz.), and
with 14 saints’ days, e. g. _Martinzi_, November, Bulg. (Kov.). With
regard to Bulg. _gorêštnik_ (= July) Kazarow writes to me: “_gorêšt_
= ‘hot’; in July the people celebrate a fire-festival of three days’
duration, viz. the 15th, 16th, and 17th of July, _gorêštnici_”. Of
the Latin names of months only three have been borrowed:--_May_
(common), Slovak, Croat., Ruthen., Russ., Czech, Pol., Sorb.; more
rarely _April_, Old Bulg., Sorb.; and _March_, Croat., Serb.,
Ruthen., Pol., High Sorb.
The great majority of the names refer to natural phenomena and
country occupations. The variety of the series need not be specially
pointed out, the numerous asterisks shew the fluctuation and
variation of the nomenclature between two or even three months.
Much is explained, as is indicated by the mention of the countries
in which the names originate, by the extremely various climatic
conditions prevailing in the countries occupied by the Slavs, and a
further explanation of the variety is to be sought in the well-known
phenomenon that when the seasons correspond only imperfectly with the
months, the equalisation is carried out sometimes with one month,
sometimes with another. It must be so, since among the same people
the same name describes various months. Pairs of months are however
rare: ‘the big’ and ‘the little’ _sêčko_ (January and February),
Bulg.; ‘the little grass-month’ (March) and the ‘big’ one (April
or May), Slovak; the little and big ‘cochineal’ months (June and
July), Czech, distinguished in the calendar of to-day as _červen_
and _červenec_ (diminutive), so that the names have changed places;
and _žătvar_, ‘reaper’ (July) and _žătvarskijat_, ‘harvest-month’
(August), Bulgarian (Kazarow). Here also must be placed _zarev_ and
cognates, Old Bulg., Russ., Czech, which is inchoative and means
‘beginning of the lowing (the rutting)’, and _rjujin_ and cognates,
Old Bulg., Slovak, Serb., Old Russian, Czech, ‘the lowing’, i. e. the
full rutting and therefore the second rutting-month. The character
of all these names is only too obvious. Hence the fact that the word
for month is very rarely added, though it appears in the translation.
These names have proved so vigorous that in Czech and Polish they
have ousted the Latin names (with the exception of May).
In the same way I give a summary of the German names of months, from
the abundant compilations more particularly of Weinhold and Ebner.
Here too I make no claim to completeness,--some names have been
deliberately omitted--my purpose being only to give an idea of the
variety and instability of the names. To this end I choose the forms
which are most easily intelligible.
1, _January_:--bare month (the bare, naked month), *hard month,
*winter month, ice month, *wolf month, threshing month, month of
calves, ‘Great Horn’, *_Volborn_, _Lasmaend_, _Laumonat_ (the
last three unexplained). 2, _February_:--last winter month,
wood month, fox month, ‘Little Horn’, _Hornung_, *_Volborn_,
_Rebmaend_, _Redmaend_, _Selle(maend)_, _Sporkel_, _Sprokkelmaend_.
3, _March_:--(first) ploughing month, drying month, *spring
month, sowing month, pruning month, vernal month, spring. 4,
_April_:--second ploughing month, *spring month, grass month,
shepherds’ month, cuckoo month, the rough month (_Rûmaend_). 5,
_May_:--ass month, month of joy, month of flowers, bean month.
6, _June_:--fallow month, *dog month, rose month, pasture month,
_Lusemaend_ (_Luse_ probably = modern German _Schildlaus_,
‘cochineal’), summer month, fallow. 7, _July_:--(first) *_Augst_,
hay month, *dog month; _Heuet_ (hay-harvest), *_Arne_ (harvest),
*cutting (i. e. of the hay). 8, _August_:--(second) *_Augst_, harvest
month, _Arnemaend_, cutting month, _Kochmaend_, month of fruit,
_Bîsmaend_ (when the cattle, tormented by the heat and the flies,
run about (_biset_) the fields as if mad), *_Arne_, *cutting. 9,
_September_:--second _Augst_, _Augstin_, cutting of oats, (*first)
*autumn month, *sowing month, spelt month, barley month, boar month,
*_Fulmaend_, _Laeset_, _Hanfluchet_, bean-harvest, first autumn,
over-autumn, autumn sowing. 10, _October_:--(*first or *second)
*autumn month, first winter month, *sowing month, *slaughtering
month, *_Folmaend_, _Aarzelmaend_ (since the year turns back),
(second) autumn, *_Laupreisi_ (leaf-fall). 11, _November_:--(*second
or third) *autumn month, *winter month, _Laubryszmaend_, leaf
month, month of rime, month of winds, month of dirt, *hard month,
*slaughtering month, _Smeermaend_, *full month, *wolf month,
acorn month, *_Laupreisi_. 12, _December_:--fourth autumn month,
(second) *winter month, *hard month, *slaughtering month, month of
bacon, *wolf month, hare month, second winter. There are also many
names borrowed from feasts and saints’ days, such as (New) Year
month and the synonymous _Kalemaend_ = Calends month (January),
_Fassnachtmaend_ or _Olle Wiwermaend_ (February), _Klibelmaend_
(Conception of the Virgin, March), Holy Month or Christ Month. The
Latin names March, April, May, and August have also become very
popular; the last-named has for special reasons been included in the
above list[995].
The history of the German names of months has been elucidated by
Weinhold and for the Alemannic district by the work of Ebner, who
bases his researches upon extensive information collected among
the people. As early as the time of Charlemagne a German series of
months had been created in order to bring the Julian months more
closely home to the people, so that the list was based largely upon
a popular foundation. The names are:--_Wintarmânoth_, _Hornunc_,
_Lenzinm._, _Ostarm._, _Wunnim._, _Brâchm._, _Hewim._, _Aranm._,
_Witum._, _Windumem._, _Herbistm._, _Heilagm._ This series attained
great influence, but did not become universal; on the contrary it
was subjected to alteration under the pressure of the agricultural
terms. In spite of this early attempt at unity the German names for
the months shew once more the variety and fluctuation with which the
reader is now sufficiently familiar. A special interest attaches to
the fact that the sources make it possible to follow how the names
of months arise from the simple terms for the seasons. On this
point Weinhold says, p. 2:--“In our sources the general statement
_in der erne_ (‘in the harvest’) preponderates over the month-name
_ernemanot_ (‘harvest-month’); _im brâchet_ (‘in the fallow’),
_im höuwet_ (‘in the hay-harvest’) hold their own alongside of
_brâch-_ and _höu-monat_ (‘fallow-, hay-month’), _im wimmot_ (‘in
the vintage’) persists, since _windumemânot_ (‘vintage-month’) had
long since died out. From the phrases _in der sât_, _in dem snite_
(‘in the sowing’, ‘in the cutting’) are painfully evolved a _sâtmân_
and a _schnitmonat_ (‘sowing-, cutting-month’). We find autumn and
winter as names of months, and also the non-German _augst_, divided
into three; we can see the uncertainty with which _laubbrost_ and
_laubrîse_ (‘sprouting and falling of the leaves’) contract into
names of months.” Accordingly the above list shews that alongside
the names compounded with ‘month’ the simple terms from seasons
and occupations of the year are frequently found as names for the
months. March = _Lenz_ (spring), June = _Brachet_ (fallow), July
= _Heuet_ (hay-harvest), August = _Arne_ (harvest), September =
_Bonenarve_, _Hanfluchet_, _erst Herbst_, _Herbstsaat_, _Überherbst_,
_Laeset_ (_Lesezeit_) (bean-harvest, hemp-gathering, first autumn,
autumn-sowing, late autumn, harvest time), October = _ander Herbst_,
_Herbst_, _Laupreisi_ (second autumn, autumn, leaf-fall), December =
_ander Winter_. Of great significance is the state of affairs found
in the Alemannic sources of the 14th century[996]; side by side with
the compound forms the simple often appear, but always as definite
names of months. Towards the end of the century they then begin to
have a loose connexion with the conception ‘month’, e. g. _brachot
der manod_ (‘fallow the month’). This shews the method by which these
names have become names of months, and Ebner judges the process
quite correctly when he says that the definite names of months
were only secondarily evolved from the general time-indications.
He adds:--“This observation can often be made in the sources, viz.
that alongside of the month-name which exactly circumscribes a lunar
period (_sic!_, must be ‘a Julian month’) a simple conception of time
also appears. These simple terms, such as ‘autumn’ for September,
also appear as general time-indications, especially in the old laws.
They originally have this character, and they shew it even to-day.
Little by little they become stereotyped into fixed names of months,
and enter into association with the conception ‘month’. In this sense
as definite names of months the simple terms live for a long time in
the sources alongside of the full terms (those with ‘month’), but in
the end lose their force as definite names of months; to-day they
are in dialects general time-indications”[997]. There is therefore
an attempt to render popular the unfamiliar Julian divisions of the
year by giving them popularly intelligible names; Charlemagne by
his series of months had already tried to systematise the process.
The same phenomenon shews itself in the single fragment of a Gothic
calendar which has come down to us, where November is equated to
_fruma jiuleis_.
The fact that the people regarded the months as seasons, and did
not clearly distinguish them from the latter as divisions of time
with a definite number of days, has sympathetically affected those
Latin names which became really popular. When we hear of a ‘first’
and a ‘second’ May, the name is evidently loosely regarded as a
general term for the early summer. _Augst_ comes to mean simply
‘harvest’[998]; hence July is called ‘the first _Augst_’ and August
‘the second _Augst_’, or the latter is named _Augst_ and September
is called _Ander Augst_, _Augstin_, or _Haberaugst_ (oat-harvest).
This explanation is opposed by the statement of Tille that in
primitive Germanic times there were sixty-day divisions[999] from
which the pairs of months have arisen, and that the fluctuation in
the names of months is due to the fact that these divisions of time
began in the middle of the Julian month[1000]. The fluctuation in
the names of months is shewn by the frequent asterisks in the above
list, and the pairs of months are:--big and little _Horn_[1001],
the first and second ploughing month, the first and second May, the
first and second _Augst_, or _Augst_ and _Augstin_ or _Haberaugst_,
and first and second autumn. Our researches ought to make a special
refutation of Tille’s thesis unnecessary. Obviously the seasons never
had a definite number of days before they became names of months;
both phenomena find their explanation in the indeterminate length and
position of the seasons upon which the scheme of the Julian months
was superimposed. Accordingly, where the name of the month was taken
from a longer season, the people counted three or four months with
the same name. Thus October and November are called respectively
third and last autumn month, December is fourth autumn month,
February third or last winter month.
The German names of months were in great measure genuinely
popular,--their very multiplicity, which has its roots in the life of
the people, suffices to prove that--but they have had to give way to
the Latin names in spite of the attempts made in modern times in the
popular calendars, and especially under the influence of Romanticism,
to establish them throughout. In our own day they persist in popular
usage chiefly in Switzerland.
The Anglo-Saxon months are preserved in a well-known passage of
Bede[1002]. I give each name with the explanation. 1, _giuli_; 2,
_solmonað_: _mensis placentarum, quas in eo diis suis offerebant_; 3,
_hreðmonað_: _a dea illorum Hreða_; 4, _eosturm._: _a dea illorum,
quae Eostre vocabatur_; 5, _þrimilci_: _quod tribus vicibus in eo
per diem pecora mulgebantur_; 6, _liða_; 7, _liða_: _blandus sive
navigabilis_; 8, _weodm._: _mensis zizaniorum_ (‘weeds’), _quod
ea tempestate maxime abundent_; 9, _halegm._: _mensis sacrorum_;
10, _wintirfyllið_: _composito novo nonune hiemeplenilunium_; 11,
_blotm._: _mensis immolationum_; 12, _giuli_: _a conversione solis in
auctum diei_. Of the explanations of Bede some are obvious, others
doubtful. For instance one would rather connect February with the
word _sol_ = ‘sun’, or perhaps with _sol_ = ‘dirt’ (on account of
the melting of the snow), since no word _sol_ = ‘cake’ is known.
The goddesses Hreða and Eostre, who formerly played a great part in
mythological discussions, are now with reason suspected as being
an explanation of Bede’s. _Hreðmonað_ is ‘the rough month’[1003],
_hreðness_ is ‘roughness’, especially of the weather; the name is
therefore equivalent to the second term for the same month, _hlyda_
(see below). In the case of _eostur_ one might think of some lost
name of a season which, like _giuli_, was transferred to a Christian
festival. For _halegmonað_ and _wintirfyllið_ see below; _blotmonað_
is the slaughtering month; the explanation of _giuli_ is fatally
wrong.
A calendar in Bibl. Cottoniensis, assigned by Hickes to the year
1031, has the same names, but unfortunately, on account of damage
caused by the great fire, nos. 1, 7, 9, and 12 are missing[1004].
The _Menologium Poeticum_[1005] does not translate all the names.
The series is:--Januarius, Februarius or _solmonað_, Martius or
_hlyda_, _Aprelis monað_, Maius, Junius or _ærra liða_, _Julius
monað_, Augustus or _weodmonað_, September or _haligmonað_, October
or _winterfylleð_, November or _blotmonað_, December or _ærra jula_.
There are missing therefore, probably not by accident, _eostermonað_
and the second month of each of the pairs. Finally I give the list
compiled by Hickes:--1, _æftera geola_; 2, _solmonað_; 3, _hlyda_
or _hlydmonað_ (‘the loud, blustering month’, on account of the
storms); 4, _easterm._; 5, _maiusm._; 6, _serem._, _midsumorm._,
_ærra liða_, _Juniusm._; 7, _meðm., ædm._ (hay-harvest month),
_æftera liða_, _Juliusm._; 8, _weodm._, _Augustusm._; 9, _haligm._,
_harvæstm._; 10, _se teoðam._, _haligm._; 11, _blotm._; 12,
_midvinterm._, _ærre geola_[1006]. Of these variants upon Bede’s list
_harvestm._, _hærfestm_. occurs frequently and indeed is attested
from the year 1000. In Robert of Gloucester (1297 A. D.) the word
means August[1007]. The two others are doubtful: they appear in the
first edition of Bosworth’s Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, which Weinhold
used, but are absent in the second, doubtless because the sources
are unknown. As far as I can see they come from Hickes, they are
missing in Hampson’s Glossary. The Oxford Dictionary says, s. v.
_meadmonth_: “an alleged O. E. name for July”. Of _seremonth_ it
gives a late example, where the word is equivalent to August[1008].
It is possible that Hickes used sources which have perished in the
fire at the Bibliotheca Cottoniensis. The form _searmonað_, so far as
I know, appears only in Bosworth, and is perhaps a normalising of the
spelling. The name ‘dry month’ (mod. Eng. ‘sear’, ‘sere’) corresponds
as badly as possible to June, and is not much more suitable for
August. A satisfactory explanation would be given if, as Prof. Ekwall
proposes to me, we assume that _seremonað_ = _sceremonað_, _s_ being
often written for _sc_ from the 12th century onwards; the name
would then mean ‘sheep-shearing month’. Fluctuation in the names of
months is seen here also: _haligmonað_ means September or October,
_harvest-monað_ both August and September. So far the Anglo-Saxon
months present the usual characteristics in the nomenclature, and in
the fluctuation of the names. A point worthy of note is the agreement
in name with the Gothic _fruma jiuleis_ but difference in position:
this is explained by the fact that _jiuleis_, _giuli_, _jul_ is an
old word for a shorter season.
Bede’s further statements as to the Anglo-Saxon year are very
important and have been much disputed. He represents it as a
lunisolar year with lunar months. It began on Dec. 25th; this night
the heathens called _modra nect, id est matrum noctem ob causam, ut
suspicamur, ceremoniarum quas in ea pervigiles agebant_ (“that is the
night of the mothers, because, as we suppose, of some ceremonies
which they performed in the night”). In an ordinary year each season
had three months, in leap-year the thirteenth month was intercalated
in the summer, it was a third _liða_ and a year of this kind was
called _annus thri-lidi_. Further, the year was divided into two
halves, winter and summer, of six months each, and winter began with
the month _wintirfyllið_. Here and here alone have we an account
of a heathen Germanic lunisolar year. _A priori_ such an account
contains nothing surprising. Tacitus, _Germ._ XI, had already stated
that the Germans observed the lunar month. The question is whether
they also named the months and arrived at a fixed series, whereby
the empirical intercalation of a month would arise of itself. In
the last centuries of heathen times they were certainly not at a
lower stage of civilisation than many other peoples in various
parts of the world among whom this form of year did arise, but the
trustworthiness of the report is far from being established by this
general consideration.
Bilfinger has subjected the account to severe criticism, and on
internal evidence states it to be a construction of Bede’s[1009].
The account, he says, fluctuates between the solar and the lunar
year; for instance Bede says in one place that the year begins on
December 25th, and in another that winter begins with the lunar month
_wintirfyllið_. But this is done in any description of a lunisolar
year that does not choose expressions with pedantic accuracy. Even
in modern scientific handbooks we read e. g. that the Attic year
began with the summer solstice, which is an abbreviated and incorrect
expression for ‘at the first new moon after the summer solstice’. The
learned chronologist, Bede, has, according to Bilfinger, elaborated
his system upon the following points of departure: the derivation of
the word ‘month’ from ‘moon’, the phrase _annus thri-lidi_, which
really means ‘a year so favourable that three sea-voyages can be
made in it’, and the beginning of the year on Dec. 25th, which is
assumed by Bilfinger to be the ecclesiastical beginning of the year
on Christmas Day, at that time used in England. The Anglo-Saxon
names of months, he concludes, are accordingly nothing more than
native terms for the Julian months, and therefore first became names
of months on the introduction of the Roman calendar. The criticism
is acute, but is not without its weak points. Bede knew quite well
that the Latin _mensis_ is connected with μήν and properly means
lunar month, and had a very good knowledge of matters chronological;
why then should he claim lunar months for the Anglo-Saxons if to his
knowledge only solar months existed among them? In regard to the
explanation of _thri-lidi_ we require to know from documents that two
sea-voyages were usually made in summer, and what was the goal of
these voyages that there should be only two of them. Such evidence is
not forthcoming. And further, as Prof. Ekwall informs me, Bilfinger’s
explanation is linguistically improbable. Such a formation would
presuppose a word *_līð_, ‘journey’, and no such word exists;
on the other hand _þriliði_, ‘with three _liða_’, is perfectly
regular[1010]. Further ‘the holy month’, _halegmonað_, cannot be
explained by Christian influence, since there is no great Christian
festival in September: the origin must be sought in the heathen cult,
but is obscure. It is not improbable that the festival of harvest
was intended. However this carries the name back to pre-Christian
times. _Wintirfyllið_ means, according to Bede, ‘(first) full moon of
the winter’. With this is connected Gothic _fulliþ_, translated by
‘full moon’[1011]. By this parallel the lunar character of this month
is also proved. In opposition to Bilfinger’s theory it therefore
appears that there are a couple of facts, arising out of the months
themselves, which point to the heathen origin and lunar character of
the months.
The difficulties lie elsewhere. The beginning of the year is
according to Bede Dec. 25. But where a fixed series of twelve months
exists, with a fixed intercalary month, it lies in the nature of
things that the month which is doubled in the intercalation should
be the beginning of the year, since this month is regulated by a
fixed point or season of the year; the month in question is in this
case _liða_, in summer. Now the beginning of the year in the sense
mentioned above, p. 276, does not necessarily coincide with the
beginning of the series of months. The beginning of the year in this
case, however, is on Bede’s own testimony the beginning of winter, as
among the Scandinavians. We are therefore driven to the conclusion
that Bede erroneously substituted the ecclesiastical beginning of
the year at the Christmas festival, and that the cause of his error
was the fact that at this time the heathen Anglo-Saxons celebrated
a Feast of the Mothers, which corresponded to the Scandinavian Yule
festival celebrated at the same time of the year; whereas in reality
the Anglo-Saxons, like most peoples, had no sharply defined beginning
of the year.
Although, therefore, Bede’s account presents great difficulties,
they are not diminished by the assumption that the scheme is a
construction of his own. In my opinion there is no denying the
trustworthiness of the account or the probability that the heathen
Anglo-Saxons had arrived at a fixed series of months with empirical
intercalation in the summer. But even if this was so, the case is
isolated, and does not advance our knowledge of the form of the year
among the other Germanic peoples. This only may be pointed out, that
the Icelanders inserted their intercalary week in the summer just
as the Anglo-Saxons, according to Bede, did with their intercalary
month. But since the form of the year is so entirely different
in each case, this agreement cannot be made to support further
conclusions, any more than the two cases of agreement with the Gothic
calendar.
The Icelandic months, in conformity with the peculiar arrangement
of the year, do not coincide with the Julian, but begin either
shortly before or in the middle of these. The series is:--1, _þorri_;
2, _Goi_; 3, _Einmánaðr_, because one month is left before the
beginning of summer; 4, _Gaukmánaðr_ (cuckoo month) or _Sáðtið_
(seed-time) or _Harpa_ (unexplained); 5, _Eggtið_ or _Stekktið_ or
_Skerpla_ (unexplained); 6, _Sólmánaðr_ (sun month) or _Selmánaðr_
(cowherd’s hut month); 7, _Miðsummar_, or _Heyannir_ (hay-time); 8,
_Tvímánaðr_, since two months are left to the beginning of winter,
or _Kornskurðmánaðr_ (barley-cutting month); 9, _Haustmánaðr_; 10,
_Gormánaðr_ (slaughtering month, _gor_ is the refuse thrown away in
the slaughtering); 11, _Frermánaðr_ (frost-month) or _Ylir_ (cognate
with _Yul_); 12, _Jólmánaðr_ (Yule-month) or _Hrútmánaðr_ (ram
month, on account of the pairing of the sheep) or _Mörsugr_ (‘the
fat-sucker’)[1012]. Some of these names are also used to describe
seasons and have been explained above, p. 74. With the exception
of _þorri_, _Goi_, and _Einmánaðr_, however, these months are not
used in practical life, where the reckoning is performed in weeks.
In modern times the Icelandic months have other names but keep the
same position in the year:--1, _Miðsvetrarm_. (midwinter month); 2,
_Föstu(in)gangsm_. (beginning of fasting); 3, _Jafnðøgram_. (month
of the equinox); 4, _Sumarm_. (beginning of summer); 5, _Farðagam_.
(because it is the legal time for moving); 6, _Nottleysum_. (the
nightless month); 7, _Stuttnættism_. (month of the short nights) or
_Maðkam_. (as in Denmark, month of worms); 8, _Heyannam_. (month of
the hay-time); 9, _Addrattam_. (_m. necessitatum apportandarum_); 10,
_Slatrunarm_. (slaughtering month), older _Garðlagsm_. (_m. sæpium
struendarum_); 11, _Riðtíðarm_. (spawning month); 12, _Skamdegism_.
(month of the short days) or _Jólam_[1013].
In Norway, according to Finn Magnusson[1014], January is sometimes
called _Thorre_, February sometimes _Thorre_, now and again also
_Gjö_, March sometimes _Gjö_, here and there also _Krikla_, June
_Gro_ (sprouting month); I shall return below, p. 302, to the
explanation of the variation. Weinhold gives a complete list:--1,
_Torre_; 2, _Gjö_; 3, _Krikla_ or _Kvine_; 4 and 5, _Voarmoanar_;
6 and 7, _Sumarmoanar_; 8 and 9, _Haustmoanar_; 10 and 11,
_Vinterstid_; 12, _Jolemoane_ or _Skammtid_ (time of the short
days)[1015].
Of the Danish months the learned Olaus Worm in the 17th century gives
two series[1016]. The months of the first series are lunar months,
he says, and begin with the first new moon of the new year:--1, _Diur
Rey_ or _Renden_, on account of the pairing of the animals (_at løbe
i Rhed_); 2, _Thormaen_; 3, _Faremaen_, on account of the journeys;
4, _Maymaen_; 5, _Sommermaen_; 6, _Ormemaen_ (month of worms); 7,
_Hoemaen_ (hay month); 8, _Kornmaen_; 9, _Fiskemaen_; 10, _Sædemaen_
(seed month); 11, _Pølsemaen_ (sausage month); 12, _Julemaen_. The
intercalary month is called _Sildemaen_, ‘the late month’. The Julian
months are called:--1, _Glugmanet_; 2, _Blidem._ (the mild month);
3, _Torm._; 4, _Farem._; 5, _Maym._; 6, _Skærsommer_; 7, _Ormem._;
8, _Høstm._; 9, _Fiskem._; 10, _Sædem._; 11, _Slagtem._; 12,
_Christm._ The northern Danes and the inhabitants of Skåne are said
to call the first four months: 1, _Glug_, 2, _Gøje_, 3, _Thor_, 4,
_Blidel_. _Blidel_ was until our own time in popular use in southern
Skåne, but it denoted February and in this position it appears in
Hickes[1017]. The same series is found in Finn Magnusson[1018],
but with certain variants:--1, _Ism_. (ice month); 2, _Dyrem._; 4,
_Faarem._ (sheep month); 6, _Sommerm._; 7, _Madkem._; 8, _Høm._;
10, _Ridem._ (riding month); 11, _Vinterm._; 12, _Julem._[1019].
Feilberg in his well-known Dictionary of the popular speech of
Jylland gives some characteristic modern popular names. _Helmisse_
(‘holy mass’) really means All Souls’ Day, and then an old worn-out
horse, whose last strength is exhausted in the autumn ploughing and
who dies in consequence; hence September or October obtains the name
_helmissemåned_. March is called _kattemåned_, from the pairing of
the cats, or _prangermåned_ (_pranger_ = ‘dealer’), because most
business is transacted then. These are evidently more in the nature
of by-names, but it is precisely names of this sort that oust the
Latin names, since they are intelligible.
In the Swedish almanac, until it was modernised in the year 1901,
Swedish names stood beside the Latin. They ran:--_Torsmånad_,
_Göjem._, _Vårm._ (spring month), _Gräsm._ (grass month),
_Blomsterm._ (month of flowers), _Sommarm._, _Höm._ (hay month),
_Skördem._ (harvest month), _Höstm._ (autumn month), _Slaktm._
(slaughtering month), _Vinterm._, _Julm._ It is true that these
names were never used. The series has arisen from an older one which
is first attested for the year 1538. In the latter three months
have Latin names, _Marsmånad_, _Aprilmånad_, _Majmånad_, October is
named _Winmånad_ (vine-month), December _Christmånad_. These names
shew that the series is of German origin; in Sweden vines are not
cultivated, and December 24th is never called Christmas Eve but Yule
Eve. The list agrees with one given by Weinhold, p. 8, which as early
as the 15th century was common to all Germany, and the agreement is
shewn also in this point that, as is often the case in German lists,
the months 3, 4, and 5 retain their Latin names. When it is further
remembered that _Augst_ means ‘harvest’, the variations will be seen
to consist only in the substitution of the old names _Tor_ and _Göje_
for _Jenner_ and _Hornung_ and the renaming of ‘the fallow month’
(_Brachmonat_) from midsummer, which is in Sweden a great popular
festival. The more suitable _Slakt-_ and _Julmånad_ were substituted
for _Win-_ and _Christmånad_ in 1608 by the almanac-maker Forsius:
the three Latin names were first exchanged for Swedish in 1734 by
the almanac-maker Hiorter[1020]. There is moreover one Swedish name
which is still very popular and which falls outside the usual series,
viz. _rötmånaden_ (‘the rotten month’), so named because it falls
in the most sultry time of the summer, when it is very difficult to
keep meat and other food from going bad. It is fixed at the time in
which the sun stands in Leo (July 22-Aug. 23; about July 13-Aug. 14,
old style). Formerly it was known as ‘the Dog-days’,--a translation
of _dies caniculares_--and the position varied considerably. The
period descends from the period of the Etesian in the ancient Greek
calendar, and it was not till the 17th century that it was generally
equated to the time during which the sun stands in Leo[1021].
The Swedish list of months is therefore largely of foreign or learned
origin. The only popular names are _Tor_ and _Göje_, which also
often occur without the addition of ‘month’. The Icelanders have
made Thorri and Goi into mythological figures[1022]. In Sweden the
people have personified these names. When it snows, Goja shakes her
robe. Thor (= March), with the long beard, entices the children
outside the wall, they say in the north of Skåne,--in the south the
same thing is said of _Bliel_ (_Blidel_ = February)--and then _Far
Fäjeskinn_ (= April) comes and drives them in again. The latter
month is conceived of as ‘Father Sweep-skin’: but it is possible
that in _far_ the month-name _Fare-maaned_ (= April) appears. In
Norway the names of the same three months--_Thorre_, _Gjö_, and
_Krikla_--were the only ones in common use, and so in Iceland,
_þorri_, _Goi_, and _Einmánaðr_. The beginning of these three months
was hailed with popular celebrations both in Iceland and elsewhere
in Scandinavia[1023]. And now attempts have been made to prove that
these Norwegian months are old lunar months. In Aasen’s Norwegian
Dictionary it is stated that the country people even to-day still
count and name the moons, so that e. g. the moon which is in the
heavens during the Yuletide-festival is termed the Yule moon if
it continues until the end of the festival, the day of Epiphany:
and if it does not last till the end of this period, then the next
following moon is the Yule moon, i. e. the Yule moon is in reality
the moon which is in the heavens on the day of Epiphany. The terms
and the calculation of the following moons are regulated accordingly.
Certainly the heathen Germans must have been acquainted with the
lunar month, and the existence of the lunisolar calendar among
the Anglo-Saxons is not to be denied, but in this case we must
unreservedly agree with Bilfinger[1024] that this lunar reckoning is
of Christian origin. Then in order to fix the date of the important
movable festivals the most convenient practical means was to begin
from the first new moon after the day of Epiphany, i. e. after the
Yule moon. The old rule says:--“Count the moon which is in the sky
on the day of Epiphany as long as it lasts, and then ten days onward
from the new moon, and you have the _terminus Septuagesimæ_.” Hence
is derived the Swedish peasant rule:--“The moon which is in the
sky at the day of Epiphany shall be the Christmas moon, whether it
be young or old.” After this follows the _disting_-moon[1025]. On
account of the ecclesiastically prescribed period of Lent and the
Easter festival it was absolutely necessary to be able to calculate
this time, and the calculation was most simply performed in the
fashion just described, although the phenomena of the heavens did
not exactly agree with the rule of computation. The third of these
moons was followed by the Easter festival. For this reason these
three months have stamped themselves upon the minds of the people
in all the Scandinavian countries. It is because they are lunar
months, and not because they began, like the Icelandic months, in
the middle of the Julian months, that the relationship of the first
three Norwegian names of months to the Julian varies in the manner
shewn above, p. 298. A further question, however, is the age of the
names _þorri_ (_Tor_) and _Göje_. Since in spite of many ingenious
attempts these words remain etymologically unexplained, and moreover
are not borrowed, the names must originate in an older period. What
they meant before they received their present application we do not
know, but there is nothing to shew that they are not old names of
months. There is a possibility, certainly somewhat remote, that their
use as names of months is pre-Christian, although the computation is
Christian. There would be nothing surprising in this, if it were the
case, since the Germans were acquainted with lunar months, and they
had attained a much higher stage of civilisation than many peoples
who were familiar with the lunisolar year as regulated by empirical
intercalation.
A sure indication of an Old Swedish heathen reckoning in lunar months
has been acutely pointed out by Beckman[1026] in the rule, attested
from the time of the Reformation, for fixing the date of the fair at
Uppsala known as the _disting_, which is a direct continuation of
the great sacrificial festival at the heathen temple in Uppsala, the
_disablot_. The rule, as has already been indicated (p. 302), says
that the _disting_ shall be held at the full of the moon following
the Epiphany moon, and therefore exactly two months before the Easter
full moon. This rule certainly goes back to ancient times and cannot
arise from the Christian computation of Easter, since there would
be no reason for arranging with reference to Easter the date of a
fair so long before Easter and originating in heathen times[1027].
Rather is the explanation given in the words of Tacitus, that the
Germans held their assemblies at new or full moon, which would also
apply to the great sacrificial festival and the popular assembly
of the Svear. This however presupposes that the insertion of the
intercalary month was fixed in some way, so that no error might
arise in regard to the moon of the _disting_. After Christianity was
introduced, and with it the computation of the three moons before
Easter, the computation of the _disting_-moon was also modified in
accordance with these. A statement of Snorre[1028] however causes
difficulty. Snorre says that the _disablot_ was celebrated in _Goe_,
but that after the introduction of Christianity the date of the fair
was altered to Candlemas (Feb. 2). The latter statement contradicts
the rule, and is ingeniously explained by Beckman. In the year 1219,
when Snorre was staying in Sweden, the full moon of the _disting_
fell on the first of February, and Snorre has generalised the single
case. _Goe_, as has been seen above, is the name of the month, but
the Göje new moon has been shewn to be the second after Epiphany, and
therefore the moon following the _disting_-moon, which is identical
with the _Tor_ new moon. Herein lies an unexplained difficulty. It is
to be presumed, however, that the arrangement of the heathen lunar
months must have been different from that of the Christian Easter
moons, and that this must have been the cause of the difference in
the position of the moons. The heathen _disting_-moon, called _Goe_,
did not entirely correspond either to the Christian _þorre_ or to
_Goe_: Snorre has made _Goe_ equivalent to it, otherwise it has been
made equivalent to _þorre_. The necessity of computing the Christian
Easter has very often caused the new moons to fall after the period
(Yule, Tor, Goe) from which they are named. On the contrary the
_disting_-moon is the very moon in which the _disting_ is held. This
is certainly a survival of an older pre-Christian computation, which
was later fitted into the Christian computation of the new moons
before Easter, and was re-arranged accordingly.
In the other Scandinavian countries also the enumeration of the moons
between Christmas and Easter was neglected after the Reformation
had made the observation of the fast superfluous, or rather it was
replaced by another: the New Year’s Day appears as the regulating
point instead of Epiphany.
The Swedish almanacs of the 16th and 17th centuries give the new
moons in words, the practice ceasing in the second half of the
17th century. In accordance with the custom of the ecclesiastical
computation the new moon is (nearly always) named after the
following month, that in which the moon ceases: _Ny Göijemånat_,
the new moon of Göje, therefore falls in _Torsmånad_ (January), and
so on. Sometimes, doubtless inadvertently, the new moon is named
after the month in which it falls, i. e. _Ny Göijemånat_ falls in
February. Now certain years receive 13 new moons, and therefore
one intercalary moon, for which the computers give rules. But the
almanac-makers never follow these rules. In two or three of the
oldest almanacs[1029] the intercalary moon is certainly described
as such[1030], but its position in the year does not correspond to
the rule of the computers: in 1603 it is simply placed in the Julian
month in which two new moons fall. Otherwise the difficulty is got
over by leaving uncounted the intercalary moon or some of the new
moons. Another way out is chosen by Herlicius, 1630 and 1641, and
Thuronius of Åbo, 1660: _Torsmånadsny_, the new moon of January, is
contrary to the rule placed in January; in the further enumeration
the new moons run over into the month preceding that after which
they are named, and the thirteenth and last new moon is again called
_Torsmånadsny_, i. e. this is doubled and serves as an intercalary
moon. Here, therefore, the insertion of the intercalary moon depends
upon the position of the new moon in relation to the beginning of the
year, i. e. to the first of January.
This method has become popular, and its popularity has been assisted
by the fact that the people, through the use of the rune-staves
recording the golden numbers, were accustomed to the calculation of
the new moon. Above all the first moon of the year (_nykung_ = ‘new
king’) played a very important part. The men took off their hats and
the women curtseyed when they saw it; from it were taken oracles for
the new year. The question is whether a popular name was also given
to the new moons. Apart from the almanacs, which use the names of
months introduced into them, I find in Swedish only one example:
_Torretungel_ (_tungel_, dialect for ‘new moon’)[1031]. The Danish
chronologist Worm gives both a lunar and a solar series of names of
months[1032]. The names are for the most part equivalent or similar
to those of the solar series, but in the first half of the year they
occupy an earlier position, which fact certainly has something to do
with the naming of the new moons according to the usual computation.
Worm expressly states that these lunar months were still in use and
began with the first new moon of the new year.
An account of connected lunar months among the East Finns has been
translated and communicated to me by Professor Wiklund. The authority
makes a man of the people speak as follows[1033]:--“The moon which
is born while the winter day is still in his house (December 18-22),
or after that, is the first heart- (middle-)moon. In this way the
Christmas festival sometimes falls in the first heart-moon, and
then we hope for a good harvest. But when the first heart-moon is
born late, e. g. after Twelfth Day, there is no second heart-moon
in this year, but there follow the foam-moon (so called because
the snow looks like foam), the snow-crust moon, the melting moon,
the sprouting moon, etc.... When we reckon the moons of the year,
beginning with the first heart-moon, we sometimes get thirteen
months in the year, although there are only twelve book-months.” At
first sight it is very tempting to see in this account old Finnish
moon-months regulated by the winter solstice, as e. g. among the
Siberian peoples, which would be quite conceivable so far north.
However this is not so. The heart-moon is in the given instance
doubled, i. e. it is an intercalary moon. Now it is a familiar fact
that the intercalary month, i. e. the first of the two months with
the same name, gets in front of the regulating-point; it is therefore
‘forgotten’, and a second moon with the same name is inserted after
it. We must therefore ask:--Within what limits, under the given
conditions, will the moon fall which in ordinary years is the
heart-moon, in leap-year the second heart-moon? The following tables
give the answer: the limits begin at the two extremes of new moon
on the first and on the twenty-ninth of January; we must of course
reckon one day for the solstice, December 21, and not the whole
‘house’.
Beginning Beginning
of the first of the second
heart-moon. heart-moon.
I. From Jan. 1. 12 moons to Dec. 22, 13 moons to Jan. 20.
12 » » Jan. 9.
12 » » Dec. 29, 13 » » Jan. 28.
12 » » Jan. 17.
12 » » Jan. 5.
12 » » Dec. 26, 13 » » Jan. 24.
12 » » Jan. 14.
12 » » Jan. 3.
12 » » Dec. 23, 13 » » Jan. 22, etc.
II. From Jan. 29. 12 moons to Jan. 18.
12 » » Jan. 7.
12 » » Dec. 27, 13 moons to Jan. 25.
12 » » Jan. 14.
12 » » Jan. 3, etc.
The regulating-point is therefore New Year’s Day: the heart-moon,
and in leap-year the second heart-moon, begin with the first new
moon after this. This rule however makes it impossible for the
first heart-moon ever to begin before the winter solstice. It will
be found that in regard to the position of the heart-month, and in
leap-years of the first heart-month, this regulation leads to such
a position of these months as is given in the account. The calendar
is therefore not a native lunar one, but the already mentioned
adaptation of the lunar reckoning in accordance with the new year
of the Julian calendar[1034]. The Finns, who from the earliest
times have owed their culture to the Scandinavians, have taken this
process from them also, but in Finland it has not been driven out by
the influences of later civilisation, just as in Norway, which long
remained comparatively untouched by these influences, the Catholic
lunar reckoning has been preserved.
The above-quoted source unfortunately does not preserve all the names
of months. A similar but somewhat different complete list has been
drawn up by Lönnrot in Karelia:--1, heart-month; 2, heart-month; 3,
foam-month; 4, tree-felling month; 5, melting or sowing month; 6,
summer month; 7, hay month; 8, pus month (cf. the Swedish ‘rotten
month’, above, p. 300); 9, harvest month; 10, autumn month; 11, dung
or dirt month; 12, month of clods; 13, Christmas month[1035]. Here
too the heart-month appears doubled.
The Lapps also have taken their reckoning from the Scandinavians:
of the reckoning in weeks we have spoken above. In Old Scandinavian
times they borrowed the word _mānō_, Lapp _manno_ (moon). The Lapp
word means both ‘moon’ and ‘month’; only among the southern Lapps
is there found a native word _aske_, ‘moon’, which one dictionary
also uses as a term for ‘month’. Therefore at the time when the
Lapps adopted the word _manno_ for ‘moon’ and ‘month’, the month of
the Scandinavians must have been a lunar month, and so also among
the Lapps. In some authors the form _mannod_ occurs, i. e. modern
Swedish _månad_, ‘month’. The Lapp names of months were not collected
until last century. They appear sometimes with, sometimes without,
the addition ‘month’. They are:--1, new month, new year (month), new
day (month), New Year’s Day month; 2, Göjem. (_knowa_, a loan-word
therefore), rarely *‘swan month’; 3, *‘swan month’, because the swan
comes in March, rarely _marasm._ (_mars_, loan-word), rarely *‘crow
month’; 4, *‘crow month’, on account of the coming of these birds,
rarely *‘snow-crust month’; 5, ‘(hard) *snow-crust month’, since
the surface of the snow, which melts in the day-time in the bright
sunshine, freezes at night into a hard crust, *‘month of calves’,
‘calf month’, when the reindeer bring forth their calves; 6, *‘month
of calves’, *‘fir month’, since the sap rises in the firs, ‘flesh
month’, ‘(mid)summer month’; 7, rarely *‘fir month’, *‘month when
the reindeer has shed its hair’; 8, called *the same, also *‘month
when the hair has grown thick again’; 9, has *the same name as 8,
or *‘rutting month’ (the rutting-time covers the end of September
and the beginning of October), or *‘month when the male reindeer
are powerless’ (after the rutting); 10, has *the same name as 9,
or else *‘rutting month’, or ‘autumn month’; 11, is also generally
called *‘month when the male reindeer are powerless’, rarely *‘Advent
month’; 12, *‘Advent month (_passatis(m.)_, _p._ means the first
Advent Sunday and the first week in Advent), ‘Yule month’[1036].
Qvigstad[1037] calls the twelfth week-month of the Lapps _bâse-tæbme
manno_, ‘the month without a feast’, the thirteenth _basse m._ or
_juowla m._
The Lapps were also acquainted with the ‘rotten month’ (_mieska
manno_, Swedish _rötmånad_)[1038]. A Lapp woman mentioned by Wiklund
gave this month the position of the ninth in the series, and
explained it as the month in which the grass begins to fade and rot.
On the strength of this Wiklund assumes a thirteen-month year, but
the statement is inconclusive, the ‘rotten month’ having certainly
been placed erroneously as a separate month in the series. That this
is so is supported not only by Qvigstad but also by Högström in
his description of Lapland of the year 1746, in which he speaks of
thirteen week-months of the Lapps. According to this authority the
Lapps drew their rune-calendar on seven discs of reindeer-horn, but
only one side of the seventh was written on, so that there were 13
sides of four weeks each, which they called a month, and so their
reckoning was 13 months, he says. Wiklund has accepted this four-week
month. It is quite possible that the Lapps called a period of four
weeks a month: we also often do the same when an approximation will
serve; but that the names of months mean periods of four weeks seems
very questionable. It would be a quite isolated case: everywhere else
the months are either the Julian or lunar months, with which last the
Lapps were acquainted, at least in ancient times. The statement that
on the basis of the reckoning by weeks a four-week month could have
arisen is certainly not absolutely to be denied,--if this is so, it
must be a secondary and late development--but the fluctuation of the
names of months is no evidence for this. It is only the fluctuation
found everywhere when names of seasons are transformed into names
of months. Only the names of the first two months are quite fixed,
and these are either essentially or literally loan-words: the Latin
name even appears in one instance for March. There is consequently
borrowing in the case of the three names which alone, as also among
the Scandinavians, have become really popular. If the Lapps really
had thirteen months, it might then be supposed that these, as in
Denmark and Finland, were lunar months which began at the first new
moon of the new year. But we find no trace of lunar months in Lapland
in historical times. We must therefore content ourselves with the
fact that the Lapp names of months shew the same fluctuation as
is shewn by all names taken from natural objects or phenomena and
applied to the months.
This brief survey of the popular months of the European peoples is
instructive from the point of view of a comparison with the names
of months among primitive peoples. Although the Julian months have
a fixed position in the solar year, and do not fluctuate to and fro
like the lunar months, yet the names of the months are unstable and
fluctuating. This is due to the fact that in the desire for concrete
observations the names of the seasons and of their occupations
have been kept, and the seasons have neither fixed position nor
duration: these names of months derived from natural phenomena and
occupations have not therefore in themselves the precision which the
chronological system demands. Such precision will only be introduced
by an external factor, in the one case by the lunar months, in the
other by the Julian months to which the names of the seasons are
transferred.