How the months got their names (and what we used to call them)

Let's explore the origins of our names for the months! And remember to head to squarespace.com/robwords to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the code "robwords".
In this video I'm going to tell you all sorts, including:
🎂 The origin of your birth month
🗓 Why our months are in the wrong order
🪶 The Old English names for our months
🏹 What a Hobbit's calendar looks like
🥛 Which month the lactose intolerant should avoid
Enjoy!
#etymology #english #oldenglish
===
Check me out on Twitter & TikTok:
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/ robwords
==CHAPTERS==
0:00 Introduction
1:07 Origin of January
3:28 February
5:30 March
6:36 Squarespace
7:45 April - where Easter gets its name
9:40 May
11:00 June
12:12 July
13:55 August
15:11 September, October, November, December

[@RealConstructor]

In Dutch we have ancient names for months. January is Louwmaand (tanning month). February is Sprokkelmaand (glean month). March is Lentemaand (spring month). April is Grasmaand (grass month). May is Bloeimaand (bloom month). June is Zomermaand (summer month). July is Hooimaand (hay month). August is Oogstmaand (harvest month). September is Herfstmaand (autumn month). October is Wijnmaand or Zaaimaand (wine month or sow month). November is Slachtmaand (slaughter month). December is Wintermaand (winter month). So almost all old Dutch names for months have their origin in farming.

[@landsgevaer]

Was gonna comment the same; also a decent few seem to agree with those old english names.

[@PopeLando]

January is "tanning month"? Are you sure you're in Netherland and not in South Africa?

[@vikingsailorboy]

@@PopeLando tanning leather, not suntanning your skin 😂

[@moonhunter9993]

Very interesting. I wonder what Regions of Germany would have called these months...

[@eerokutale277]

Finnish names for months end with the word "kuu" it means moon and in this case month. Janyary/tammikuu (I guess tammi means axle or pivot in this case, usually it means Oak) February/helmikuu (helmi means pearl, maybe it meant hard granular snow in ancient times),March/maaliskuu (snow melting and revealing earth/soil "maa"), April/huhtikuu (probably from drying wood), May/toukokuu (touko meant sowing and planting), June/kesäkuu ( summer month), July/heinäkuu (hay month), August/elokuu (harvesting month), September/syyskuu (fall/autumn month), October/lokakuu (slush month), November/marraskuu (death month), December/joulukuu (yule month).

[@TheyCallMeHacked]

What you forgot to mention is that both the Romans and Anglo-saxons used a lunisolar calendar. The Roman calendar was 355 days and needed a leap month after February more or less every other year that was called Mercedonius, which can be translated to "the work month". It's actually the reason leap days are still done in February nowadays. The Anglo-Saxon leap month happened between June and July and was known as Þrilīðe meaning "Third Lithe"

[@timothyTNM117]

They were really into Lithe.

[@LevB]

And the reason Julius Caesar reformed the calendar is that they tended to add the extra month incorrectly.

[@johndododoe1411]

@@LevB And then they wasted almost 50 years inserting the leap day incorrectly.

[@mahna_mahna]

What I'm hearing is that ancient people had as much trouble with leap additions as modern programmers. :D

[@TheyCallMeHacked]

@@mahna_mahna Romans were JS devs confirmed?

[@ahcuah9526]

When you brought up Tolkien, I can't believe that you also didn't point out Thrimidge as the three-milk month, which is clearly where he got it from.

[@ashercameron]

Same with Astron, Wedmath, Halimath, Winterfilth, Blotmath and maybe even Rethe from hredamodath

[@mahna_mahna]

And of course, don't forget the Maia(r)!

[@northnowhere3138]

@@ashercameron I think literally all of them roughly approximate the Old English names, it seems

[@DonyaLane]

My first thought was that Thrimidge (May) was Tolkein's tip of the hat to May as the original third month (if March was the original first month). Thri = 3.

[@Bjowolf2]

@@northnowhere3138 Due to the related Germanic cultures of Northern Europe with their closely related Germanic languages. A lot of our basic words in Scandinavia ( three closely related languages ) would actually make perfect sense to you, especially once you figured out how to see past some simple and quite systematic and therefore predictable sound shifts as well as some wear and tear and our "peculiar" spelling traditions 😉 Danish in particular will often look like some "weird" sort of older Pseudo English 😊 D Hvad skal vi [ve] synge for dem først [first]? E What shall ( OE sceal !) we sing for them first? D Vil du (orig. "thu") sælge [sell-ye] mig [migh] din [deen] røde ko? E Will you (thou) sell me your (thine) red cow? D Vi [ve] kan høre [h'oe'r-e] dem komme over til os [us] - se, de [dee*, "dey"] er [air] allerede her [heir] nu [noo*]! E We can hear them 'coming' ( come) over to us - look (see), they are already here now! And so on and on 😉

[@WelshBathBoy]

In Welsh there is quite a mix up, January - May and August are from the latin names (Ionawr, Chwefror, Mawrth, Ebrill, Mai, Awst). June and July are Mehefin and Gorffennhaf from "middle of summer" and "end of summer". September is Medi - from word for 'reaping' due to the harvest. October shares its name with Autumn - Hydref, coming from hydd and bref meaning "stag call" because of stags rutting. November is Tachwedd comes from slaughter. December is Rhagfyr coming from rhag- and byr meaning prior and short, alluding to the short days.

[@Ed19601]

can't help it but Gorffennhaf sounds like it could have been a house in Harry Potter's Hogwarts school

[@skathwoelya2935]

In Common Cornish, November is "mis Du", meaning "black, sombre, dark". Whether that refers to the short days or all the slaughter the people seem to have been doing, I can't say. For anyone interested in the names of months in Celtic languages, the others in Common Cornish are: mis Genver (January), mis Hwevrer (February), mis Meurth (March), mis Ebryl (April), mis Me (May), mis Metheven (June), mis Gortheren (July), mis Est (August), mis Gwynngala (September), mis Hedra (October), mis Du (November) and mis Kevardhu (December). I love spotting the similarities with Welsh (language cousins). Thank you, JD.

[@soonersciencenerd383]

@@Ed19601 minerva is a professor at hogwarts!

[@andrewwhelan7311]

I think you will find all this pre date's Roman Latin and even Greek by thousands of years. The epidemiology of the words is clearly ancient and is echoed in the ancient indigenous language of the Briton's / Cymraeg or Welsh. The root words go back to the near East and the Anglo Saxon references are very Johnny come lately examples.

[@bradwilliams7198]

@@skathwoelya2935 I just learned the months in Kernewek (Cornish), so thanks for posting this. The Welsh and Cornish names for June, July, and October are clearly cognates (although in Cornish the word for Autumn is completely different than the word for October),

[@cogspace]

The connections between Julius and Augustus with July and August is also why both of those months have 31 days even though they're back-to-back. Best not to slight the new emperor by giving him fewer days than the old one.

[@TheLouisianan]

I understand too that February got shafted with 28 days because it was considered an unlucky month.

[@francoiskeulen]

The month August has 31 days even before it was called after August, because Julius Caesar added two days when he created the Julian calendar in 45 BC.

[@chrisdaignault9845]

@@TheLouisiananid have guessed it has the fewest because it was the end of the year so it just got “the rest” of the days.

[@charlessalzman4377]

It's also really handy for that knuckle method of recalling days in a month.

[@dancingnature]

“Thirty days hath September, April, June and November “ that how I remember how many months have 30 days

[@tetianaserebrennykova1030]

Thank you! Being 46 years old I felt like a little girl listening to a fairy tale, so fascinating it was. I wish you had been my History of English teacher back at the university.

[@myy_.m3lody]

@@rob-001ur gay

[@dominicle9187]

hey Tetiana, me2

[@316diag]

i like your name :)

[@moaningpheromones]

age snap

[@johnnyrosenberg9522]

In Swedish Christmas is still called Jul (our j is pronounced like an English y, so it's pronounced approximately like yule). There's usually snow here in February and when the weather is nice, quite a few degrees below zero (°C) the sunlight is reflected by the snow and makes the day very bright for a couple of hours. The Swedish word for sun is sol, so solmånad (månad=mōnaþ=month) actually makes a lot of sense, at least in Sweden and, I'd guess, in Norway. But at least these days, we call it februari (first letter is lower case, unless it's the first word in a sentence, of course).

[@mariiris1403]

And in Norwegian it is februar. But I think that sol- also could refer to the sun because it "returned" in our northern parts? This event is traditionally celebrated, and even though the date when the sun reappears varies a lot with the latitude, I don't think it's strange that they chose one moon/month to refer to this joyous event. And for those of us living south of the polar circle, we notice the days are starting to get longer around this time.

[@stephaniefogelvik4756]

Personally, it is the Swedish language's lack of respect for capitalization that makes me consider German a much better language (among other reasons as well). Lol 😆

[@ktb183]

And actually "juletid" is appropriate for the time (tid) around Yule. :) I think it's the same in Norwegian and Danish.

[@evan_j]

That is interesting. Are there other times when your use/non-use of capital letters differs?

[@johnnyrosenberg9522]

@@evan_j Weekdays are also written in non-capitals in Swedish (and weeks start with måndag=Monday, måne=moon, dag=day). Other than that, I think it's the same as in English, as far as I can come up with right now.

[@NieJa_2137]

In Polish almost all are different so I'll get through most of them and giving info about the old versions of their names for the ones that share the same root Styczeń (January) - derived from the words "styk" meaning "contact" or "border" (because of being on the border of the years) and "tyka" meaning a large stick which were used in farming and prepared for the upcoming year in this month Luty (February) - the Old Polish word "luty" was an adjective that meant "harsh" or "very cold" and so it became the name of the coldest month Marzec (March) - the Old Polish name for it was Brzezień, derived from "brzoza" meaning birch which got back alive after the winter in this month Kwiecień (April) - from the word "kwitnąć" meaning "to blossom" because of the blossoming flowers Maj (May) - the Old Polish name was Trawień, derived from "trawa" meaning grass Czerwiec (June) - from a bug which in polish is named "czerwiec polski". As the red dye was made out of it, this is also where the name for red, "czerwony" comes from Lipiec (July) - from "lipa", the Polish name for lime trees Sierpień (August) - directly from "sierp", the Polish name of sickle Wrzesień (September) - from the Polish name of heathers, "wrzosy" Październik (October) - from the word "paździerz" which was a name for the leftovers after growing flax and hemp Listopad (November) - from the words "opadać" (to fall) and the Old Polish "list", nowadays "liść" (leaf) Grudzień (December) - from "gruda", an Old Polish name for frozen ground, as this was the first month when you could see it happening Mostly named after farming and/or nature related words so nothing fancy, but it goes to show how descriptive and helpful the month names were for the common people at the time when they were invented

[@zer0nix]

You, or someone, should make a video for this because I would love to hear how these sound! A lot of words somehow sound exactly like they should, while others tend to reveal more tortured origins to go with their discordance! Also I just have no idea how those are pronounced :p

[@Kher4m]

I think you messed up January, it have meaning of Cold or cold winds. East slavic languages still have стужа (cold and windy weather). In Belorusian it is called Студзень - with the meaning of cold.

[@Mr72Dolphins]

It appears that European names added more colloquial "farming" names. But, for January, it has more to do with the River Styx, and farther back to Sumerian-Aryan fertility festival of the New Year Cycle (Lunar).

[@DonyaLane]

@@Mr72Dolphins , I don't know anything about Polish, but the first thing I thought of was also the River Styx.

[@Srga91]

@@Kher4m A connection to 'stud' in Polish is phonetically problematic, because iotated /d/ developed into dź. Also, the /u/ had to be long and stretched to /y/, which didn't occur in any other Slavic language. Instead, it's more likely to be related to the Croatian word for February, 'Sijećanj', which derives from the wird 'sjeći' - meaning 'to cut/slash'. Possibly because it was the time when the Slavs used to cut trees for the winter. Compare Old Polish 'sieczeń' (styczeń might be influenced by 'tyka').

[@Joker5086]

In german speaking countries it used to be: Hartung (new high german (NHG) 'hart' meaning 'hard, solid', because the ground is frozen solid), Hornung (male red deer shed their antlers ('horns') during this time), Lenzing (from west germanic *langatīna meaning long day, because the days get longer during this time), Launing (cognate to NHG 'launisch', meaning 'moody', because of the changes in weather in April, from rainfall to sunny days, to snowfall, always back and forth), Bleuet (something about flowers blossoming (NHG 'blühen')), Brachet (the period of fallow (NHG 'Brache') begins during this time), Heuet (hay (NHG 'Heu') is brought in), Ernting (NHG 'Ernte' meaning 'harvest'), Scheiding/Holzing (NHG 'scheiden' meaning 'to separate', 'to part', 'to depart'; NHG 'Holz' meaning 'wood', so maybe gathering wood for the cold months?), Gilbhart (the leaves turn yellow (NHG 'gelb'); 'hart' having meant 'much, many, lots of'), Nebelung (NHG 'Nebel' meaning 'fog'), Julmond (yule month) (these are mainly modernized spellings). Charlemagne gave the months names as well: Eismond (ice moon), Schmelzmond (melting moon), Lenzmond (spring moon), Ostermond (easter moon), Winnemond (pasture moon), Brachmond (fallow moon), Heumond (hay moon), Erntemond (harvest moon), Herbstmond (autumn moon), Weinmond (wine moon), Nebelmond (fog moon), Christmond (christ moon) and there are many more variants. Bonus fact: in german-speaking Switzerland, February is sometimes called 'Horner'; in Pennsylvania Dutch it's called 'Hanning'.

[@Boyd2342]

How exactly did Charlemagne give these month names? Did he himself coin them?

[@Nickle314]

French revolutionary calendar Vendémiaire - vintage Brumaire - Mist Frimaire - Frost Nivôse - Snowy Pluviôse - Rainy Ventôse - Windy Germinal - Germination Floréal - Flower Prairial - Meadow Messidor - Harvest Thermidor - Summer Heat Fructidor - Fruit In Britain, a wit mocked the Republican Calendar by calling the months: Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy and Poppy.

[@PhoenixClank]

Huge (probably posthumous) probs to the people who managed to come up with consistent puns on all twelve of these!

[@belbrighton6479]

Gotta love the French Revolution’s fresh approach to life and science; brilliant.

[@nietzschescodes]

Ah, that is why Zola's novel is called Germinal!

[@nessus47]

I think the French names are very beautiful, almost poetic.

[@Nickle314]

@@nessus47 They are, but the wit's response is a heckle from which you can't recover. :-)

[@andreasrehn7454]

Fun fact: Augustus not only wanted to have a month named after him just as Julius Ceasar, but also claimed that the month contained 31 days, just like July.. So he took another day from February (which had already been used for the leap years) and gave to August... that's why both are of equally size..

[@Valentine570]

The days were moved 2 decades before it became august because February is unlucky it has nothing to do with augustus’ ego. In fact it wasnt even augustus who changed the name, a plebiscite changed the name to honor him

[@marcobelli6856]

@@Valentine570because if you Change it yourself you sound dumb. Self praise is Not the same as being admired

[@sohopedeco]

The fact that June and July are pronounced so differently is something that smashes the expectations of every English learner. In Portuguese, they're called "junho" and "julho", which makes for a nice little pair of sound alike months, with a single letter exchanged between them.

[@vincenttt8289]

Same in Filipino (which we got from Spain), Hunyo and Hulyo

[@WildVoltorb]

Hey, look at me! I'm so special guys because I'm brazilian! our culture is so unique

[@sohopedeco]

@@WildVoltorb I have the impression someone is feeling envy for some reason.

[@hoshiro.exsharaen]

I guess Indonesian is influenced a little bit by Portuguese, because here we call them Juni and Juli.

[@jan_777]

@@hoshiro.exsharaen "Juni" and "Juli" are German spelling, but for clarification some also say "Juno" and "Julei", because they sound too mucn alike otherwise and get easily misheard.

[@mark.fedorov]

I enjoyed the video. Funny how the romans devoted first 4 months to their gods and then just went "eh, it's the 5th month, let's just call it that" and similarly for the rest.

[@bonniepinney2884]

😂 They straight gave up. Its not like they didn't have enough gods to use.

[@DataLal]

I guess they didn't think those months important. Or, they did have names a long long time ago, but perhaps different names all around the Italian peninsula, so this might have been a way of standardizing the months for a burgeoning Republic. That's only conjecture on my part though - maybe someone more knowledgeable of early/pre Roman history can chime in.

[@Rhaenarys]

They actually still devoted those months to the gods. September for example was devoted to Demeter since she's the goddess of the harvest. She was HEAVILY worshipped during that month.

[@MyChihuahua]

The months were always only meant to be numbered, (as were the days of the week). Sometimes they would be referred to by what was expected that month/moon - Harvest Moon, Snow Moon, etc. Naming them after false 'gods' and such is a pagan practice.

[@JustSayin916]

I remain astonished that in every one of your videos you introduce me to more astonishing explanations of the source of English words. Just so fabulous. I look forward to hearing what comes next! And adding to my enjoyment is your quirky and humorous self, your tongue-in-cheek facial expression, the locations you chose to film in, and your jackets and scarves. All in all, you are probably a very cool friend to have.

[@Rose-jz6ix]

Barbara, totally agree 🇦🇺💯. Because of where I live everything seems wrong & for good reasons. My birth month is so apt with weeds being plants I grow without planting 😂🤣. Then to be born on Wednesday it was foreseen I would struggle with mental health issues.😂😀 I hope your Christmas/holidays/Hanukkah is a good one. Peace be with you 🇦🇺♥️🦘

[@MRVIDEOMASTER-yw1qw]

God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen

[@slitrovaart]

In Czech, we use also use old names, very different than their Latin counterparts. January is Leden - "led" means ice, February is Únor - "nořit" is sinking or submerging and it's probably the ice melting and sinking into the water, March is Březen -"březí" means pregnant within the animal realm, "bříza" is a birch tree and they usually start to germinate April is Duben - "dub" is an oak tree and they usually bud around this time, May is Květen - "květ" is a bloom June is Červen - red is "červená", some of the fruits are getting red July is Červenec - similar to June August is Srpen - start of harvest, sickle is used and that is "srp" in Czech September is Září - start of rutting season, the deer "zaříjí" (scream during rutting season) October is Říjen - main month of rutting season November is Listopad - "list" is a leaf, "padat" is falling so it's the month of falling leaves December is Prosinec - here it's a little unclear, it could be connected with the sun flickering in clouds (sinati, prosinati) or with pig (prase) slaughters

[@bennieviljoen291]

I am actually surprised you never mentioned that in England, March was both the first and last month until 1751 when they finally moved New Year's day from the 25th of March 1752 to the 1st of January 1752 (making 1751 the shortest year in England with only 9 months - 1752 was also a short year as they ditched 11 days in September to switch over from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar).

[@nataliebutler]

I find January a terrible and unnatural time for new year. It's cold, dark, and dead.. spring seems a much better time as it's uplifting and full of new life.

[@chitlitlah]

@@nataliebutler We do that a lot. A new day begins at dawn, but the date rolls over at midnight. Monday begins a new week and Sunday is part of the weekend, but we (Americans anyway) put Sunday on the left side of the calendar like it's the first day. We think of spring as the first season of the year and winter as the last, but officially the year starts with January.

[@nekotranslates]

@@chitlitlah Sunday is actually the first day of the week. If you read Genesis, where God created everything, the first thing was the Sun, hence why Sunday is the first day of the week. The Sabbath is always a Saturday which is the last day of the week as that is when God rested.

[@chitlitlah]

@@nekotranslates Is that why Sunday is on the left side of the calendar, because some moldy Babylonian god supposedly said he created the sun first? Regardless, we still call it the weekend and consider Monday the start of a new week.

[@nekotranslates]

@@chitlitlah I doubt that the God of Babylon is the same God as the one who gave us Jesus and created everything.

[@annw1395]

I've done a lot of genealogy, and have chuckled over the calendar changes. Julian calendar changed to the current Gregorian one in 1582 in Europe, and in 1752 in England. And the first day of the year in the old Julian calendar was March 25th. Not even the first day of the month -- lol. Old parish registers will have a date of, say, March 24th, 1730 and the very next day is March 25, 1731. Seems so funny to us now.

[@sevenwatson5854]

Glad you mentioned this! As I was going to!!

[@zetectic7968]

25th March is Lady Day or The Feast of the Annunciation, one of the quarter days of the year when taxes & rents were due. Sometimes used for taking on new labour/workers for the year. Incidentally in Britain with the change from Julian to Gregorian calendars & the addition of the 10 days that is how 6th April came to be the date for the start of the tax year.

[@annw1395]

Interesting about the significance of March 25. Thx!

[@bonniepinney2884]

So the Roman's had December, then twoish months of no dates, then like 3 weeks of match, then the new year. Then when they added 2 months they just kept calling half of their months numbers that no longer made since. I begin to wonder if they even took their Callander seriously 🙃

[@zetectic7968]

@@annw1395 You're welcome

[@ncubesays]

This was super informative. Here in Southern Africa, the Nguni new year begins with the new moon in September. It goes: September (uMandulo, cultivation) October (uMfumfu, emerging, as in the vegetation), November (uLwezi, an insect which multiplies in the spring feasting on new vegetation), December (uZibandlela, ignore the path as vegetation as now everywhere), January (uMasingna, search/inspect ripening crops), February (uNhlonja, inspect your dogs which are in mating season), March (uNdasa, well-fed with all the abundance), April (uMbasa, Thanking God threshing grounds during harvest), May (uNhlaba, aloe plant which start to bloom), June (uNhlangulana, scattering of leaves as they fall off the trees), July (uNtulikazi, windy with dust), August (uNcwaba, glossy landscape after burning the fields)

[@judybassett9390]

In Finnish all months end in kuu, which means moon, and December is Joulukuu.

[@pltechs]

Also Finnish months are still tied to natural or traditional events like the Old English ones mentioned in the video, e.g. Heinäkuu (hay month), Lokakuu (mud month), Marraskuu (death month), Joulukuu (Christmas month) etc

[@maatuainen6208]

Finnish months and their name origins: Tammikuu (January): 'Tammi' means oak. In old Finnish it has also meant the middle tree or an axel. This month is the middle of winter. Helmikuu (February): 'Helmi' means pearl. Frozen snow looks like pearls in treebranches. Maaliskuu (March): 'Maa' means ground or soil, which starts to reveal under the snow in March. Huhtikuu (April): 'Huhti' is derivative from old Finnish word 'huhta', which means wood that is burn on the ground to make the soil fertile. In April people cut down the trees and left them to dry. This was an important face of forestry work. Toukokuu (May): 'Touko' is an old Finnish word for spring. Later is has meant the sowing and other work that is done in the spring. Kesäkuu (June): Altough 'kesä' means summer, 'kesäkuu' doesn't straigh up mean summer month. Name 'kesäkuu' comes from words 'kesanto' which means a field that hasn't been sown yet after winter, and 'kesänajo' which means to plow the field. Heinäkuu (July): 'Heinä' means hay. In July the hay was ready to be reaped. Elokuu (August): 'Elo' is old Finnish word for harvest. So August was harvest month. Syyskuu (September): 'Syys' or 'syksy' means autumn, which starts in September. Lokakuu (October): 'Loka' means mud. In October Finnish weather is usually very rainy and muddy. Marraskuu (November): 'Marras' is old Finnish word for death. In November the nature dies. Joulukuu (December): Finnish word 'joulu' means Christmas. It comes from the same origin as yule. Although Finnish is not a germanic language, Finnish has a lot of lone words from Swedish, that stil uses the word 'jul' (Christmas). source: www.ts.fi/teemat/1074268257

[@MrMudbill]

Very cool episode :) Here in Scandinavia (Norway in my case) we still call "Christmas time" as "juletid" aka yuletide. I'm sure some of the traditions are still rooted in the yule celebrations.

[@charlessalzman4377]

It's my understanding that decorating the Christmas tree goes back to those time. The burning of the yule log, from an older tree, and the cutting down and decorating of a younger tree symbolized the death birth cycle. A lot of those old Pagan traditions still lurk around our holidays. Kissing under mistletoe dates back to Ancient Greece.

[@Ed19601]

including the julenissen rather than Santa Claus

[@lizj5740]

@@Ed19601 Thanks for "julenissen", which sent me on a journey to discover its history.

[@Ed19601]

@@lizj5740 my pleasure

[@Bjowolf2]

@@lizj5740 In Denmark we have "Jule-manden" ( litt. "the Yule-man" 😂) = Santa Clause, whereas "jule-nissen" is more like the local "farm-goblin or elf", whom you have better keep happy with offerings of rice pudding and ale, or otherwise all kinds of bad luck will come your way, and your coming harvest may be ruined. In more recent times "jule-nissen" has also taken on the roll as Santa's little helpers here.

[@TheGTRacer97]

It's interesting how there are similarities to the current Finnish month names, especially in the second half of the year: January = Tammikuu = Oak month, reasons behind this name are unclear February = Helmikuu = Pearl month, referring to sparkly shine of snow March = Maaliskuu, this meaning is unclear, possibly related to ground ("maa") that is revealed when snow melts April = Huhtikuu, referring possibly to a burned clearing in the forest ("huhta"), which was common to do during this month May = Toukokuu = Spring month June = Kesäkuu = Summer month, possibly also referring to ley farming ("kesanto") July = Heinäkuu = Hay month, referring to hay that was cut and stored as cattle food for winter, similarly to the old English August August = Elokuu = Harvesting/crop/life month, similarly to the old English September September = Syyskuu = Autumn month October = Lokakuu = Mud/dirt month, interestingly similar to what you spoke about February in your video November = Marraskuu = Death month, also similar to your video December = Joulukuu = Christmas month, notice how the word "joulu" likely shares an origin with "yule" due to Swedish influence P.S. "kuu" literally means "moon", but can also be used to mean "month" in modern language

[@MarcusHawksley]

Nicely summed up. I have one clarification. Tammikuu (January) comes from the old term tammi as in a fulcrum or axis (napa/akseli in Finnish). Tammikuu is the turning point in winter when we are heading towards lighter days and the new year to come. As a side note, joulukuu (December) used to be called talvikuu (winter month). It seems the term joulu (Christmas) came with Christianity from Sweden with the appropriated traditional non Christian word 'jul' or Yule.

[@mikewilliams6025]

I don't think Februus is attested. February is the Roman month of purification, but it is named after the festival(s) of purification, the februa, itself named after the offering for purification, the februum, which comes from the verb foveo, to burn, to warm, to cherish, to foment, to favor, to support, the very root of modern english fever.

[@66hss]

In Finnish we have very original names for months. Each ends with "-KUU" which litteraly means MOON. Here's the list loosely translated (some may be debatable): Oakenmoon (oak=the axis or heart of winter) Pearlmoon Earthlymoon Burn-clearing-moon Sowingmoon Summermoon Haymoon Harvestmoon Autumnmoon Mudmoon Deathmoon Yulemoon

[@infinite5795]

We Hindus have our own traditional lunisolar calendar called Vikrama Samvat/Shalivahan era which has different names in different areas of our country depending on the languages. The Hindu calendars have been in use in the Indian subcontinent since Vedic times( 5000years ago) and remain in use by the Hindus all over the world, particularly to set Hindu festival dates, cultural and institutional programs, holidays. The months in Sanskrit are:- Chaitra( March-April) Vaishakha( April-May) Jyeshtha( May-June) Ashadha( June-July) Shravana( July-Aug) Bhadrapada(Aug-Sept) Ashvina( Sept-Oct) Kartika( Oct-Nov) Mrgashira( Nov-Dec) Pausha( Dec-Jan) Magha(Jan-Feb) Phalguna( Feb-March) Even their etymologies are interesting too. They constitute the traditional Indian calendar.

[@Omnamorudraya23]

Chaitra comes from Chitrā Nakṣatram Vaishākha comes from Viśākhā Nakṣatram Jyēṣṭha comes from Jyēṣṭhā Nakṣatram Āṣhaḍha comes from Purvāṣhaḍa Nakṣatram Śrāvaṇa comes from Śrāvaṇā Nakṣatram Bhādrapada comes from Purva Bhādrapada Nakṣatram Aśvin comes from Aśvini Nakṣatram Kārtika comes from Kṛttikā Nakṣatram Mārgaśirṣha/Āgrhāyana comes from Mṛgaśīrā/Āgrhāyaṇi Nakṣatram Pauṣa comes from Puṣyā Nakṣatram Māgha comes from Maghā Nakṣatram Phalguna comes from Purva Phalguni Nakṣatram Yeah, it's a little bit interesting.

[@shahedmatin5427]

ooh, as a bangladeshi, i recognise some of these months from our bangla calendar!! pretty cool stuff

[@Cubic5]

As someone living in the Southern Hemisphere I just cannot wrap my head around April as a spring month. And do not even start talking about a white Christmas.

[@JdeBP]

Hotmonth, Hotmonth, Hotmonth, Hotmonth, Bloodyhotmonth, Spidermonth, Rules, Fosters, Timtamber, Vegemite, Barbiemonth, and Crickey. (-:

[@Primitarian]

Ah yes, rearing its ugly head again: polarism, or polar supremism, the privilege based on the earth's polarity, or as it most commonly known, northism.

[@phforNZ]

It's a white Christmas with everyone finally getting out to get a tan!

[@sophitsa79]

@@JdeBP it really depends where you are in Australia. Remember, Australia is about the same size as America and all of Europe. In Melbourne, the Aboriginal people had 6 seasons, and they make much more sense than the 4 European ones

[@davehodges2361]

@@sophitsa79 that sounds interesting. How was it split up?

[@dekeltal]

Great video, thanks! 2 more interesting facts on that subject: • The fact that February was the last month of the year is the reason why it's the shortest (it just got whatever was left of the year) and also why it gets an extra day during a leap year • The fact that July and August are honorary names, is actually also the reason why they are both 31 days - in Honor of Augustus it was decided to flip the order and and start again with 31.

[@LydJaGillers]

The Persians still celebrate the first of the year in March, specifically the first day of spring and I find that to be so wonderful and beautiful. The Nowrooz celebrations are quite fantastic.

[@kane2742]

I kind of wish we still started the year in March. It sems more appropriate as a "new beginning" with everything blooming. It would also be good if it were aligned so March 1 was the equinox, so the first day of spring would also be the beginning of the new year. That would also mean that there wouldn't be a season split between two years, which can currently cause some ambiguity. (If a movie is coming out in "winter 2023," does that mean the beginning of the year or the end?)

[@The_SOB_II]

I agree. Just the other day I was wishing that the 1st of the year was around the start of spring

[@mahna_mahna]

@@kane2742 It seems like it would be a MUCH better time to throw a New Year's party in than Dec/Jan, doesn't it?

[@kane2742]

@@mahna_mahna Plus a lower chance of icy roads for the drunk drivers to skid on and crash into other people.

[@mahna_mahna]

@@kane2742 Exactly my thought as well. Could even have a **gasp** _outdoor_ new year's even party!

[@mcswordfish]

My favourite monthly etymology is December in the three extant Goidelic languages. In Irish it's "Mí na Nollag" and in Manx its "Mee ny Nollick" - both of these translate to "Month of Christmas. In Scots Gaelic, we do things differently. Instead of following our linguistic cousins' example and going with "Mìos ne Nollaig", we call it "An Dùbhlachd", which translates to "The Blackness" I do not know if this difference is simply due to how far north we are (where I am, we have over 12hrs of darkness today - we're a fortnight from the solstice and there's plenty further north to go too), or the influence of Calvinism compared with Catholicism and Anglicanism in Ireland and Man

[@flora20]

In Welsh (a Celtic cousin) it’s Rhagfyr which means foreshortening as in the days getting shorter and darker so more like Scots Gaelic in that way. I love how a lot of the Celtic languages have kept many of their old month names which always seem more poetic somehow. Thanks for sharing your knowledge I’m always interested in learning about Celtic languages

[@pyglik2296]

I'd like to share some etymology of polish month names, cause they're very different from the "standard" latin ones. January (Styczeń) - probably from the word for touching (between two years) or poles used in fields February (Luty)- old word for severe and frosty March (Marzec) - one of the two months that come from latin April (Kwiecień) - flower month May (Maj) - this one is from latin too June (Czerwiec) - from the name of polish cochineal which is an insect used to make red dye; the word red (czerwony) itself also comes from this bug July (Lipiec) - lime tree month August (Sierpień) - sickle month, a month of harvest September (Wrzesień) - heather month October (Październik) - from the word for dry stalks of linen and cannabis (the one grown for fiber not the other stuff) November (Listopad) - month of falling leaves December (Grudzień) - from the word for frozen pieces of ground

[@richryan76]

That's similar to the way the Aboriginal people here in Western Australia have always split the year into six seasons. The Aboriginal calendar names each season based on the changes you can see in nature - the flowering of plants, the hibernation of reptiles and the moulting of swans etc.

[@pcatMe]

THANKS very interesting!

[@catboxcleaner3532]

Thank you, Pyglik, as I had nothing to link to any mnemonics for the Polish names of months, as they resemble not any languages with which I may be familiar, as I try to learn Polish.

[@theodiscusgaming3909]

They're almost the same in Ukrainian: January - Січень (sichen') February - Лютий (ljutyj) March - Березень (berezen') April - Квітень (kviten') May - Травень (traven') June - Червень (cherven') July - Липень (lypen') August - Серпень (serpen') September - Вересень (veresen') October - Жовтень (zhovten') November - Листопад (lystopad) December - Грудень (gruden')

[@catboxcleaner3532]

@@theodiscusgaming3909 It is thrilling to find lingual cognates; thank you for sharing your lovely language of Ukrainian. I retain a bit of Russian from University, knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet, which helps as I engage in learning Ukrainian, so it is a joy to meet people sharing their Mother Tongues. One of my Great Grandmothers was of Polish descent, and my favorite book is penned by a Polish author, In My Hands, by Irene Gut Opdike. Pozdrowienia i Błogosławieństwa. Вітання і благословення. Greetings and Blessings.

[@eveliiin_n]

I'm so happy that there's a channel that explains English so nice and understandable! This video was also very interesting, and I learned a LOT about months and all kind of other stuff. Also, the pronunciation of 'Aprilis' was almost what we call April in Hungary! (Április) We just say the 's' differently, like the 's' from 'dash'.

[@czarnykot22]

Polish has preserved most old Slavic names of the months: January - Styczen (from "styk" or "na styku" or even English "stick" which means "touching at the end" or "attached") - "month at one end" or "month that sticks (to one end on the year" February - Luty (from "lod" - "ice") - "the month of ice" March - Marzec (that's Germanic name) April - Kwiecien (from "kwiat" - "flower") - "month of flowers" May - Maj (that's Roman name) June - Czerwiec (from "czerwony" - "red") - "red month" July - Lipiec (from "lipa" - "lime tree") " month of the lime" August - Sierpien (from "sierp" - "sickle") - "month of the sickle" September - Wrzesien ("wrzos" - "heather") - "month of the heather" October - Pazdziernik ( from unprocessed hemp fibre, "pazdzierz") "month of hemp harvest" November - Listopad ("lisc" and "opad" - "leaf" and "fall") "month of falling leaves" December - Grudzien ( from "groda" - "a pile" of snow) "month of piles of snow"

[@Wayne_Lukaz]

I can’t even explain how long I’ve wondered why SEPtember, OCTober, and DECember ain’t the 7th, 8th and 10th months! Rob you’re just amazing!! 🙌🏻

[@frankstrawnation]

If you spoke a latin language you would also ask yourself why NOVEmber is not the 9th month.

[@alukuhito]

You never looked it up?

[@Dancestar1981]

They were until July and August were added to the calendar

[@alukuhito]

@@Dancestar1981 No. It's because the start of the year shifted. Watch the video.

[@clairfayne]

@@Dancestar1981 Quintilis and Sextilis, respectively

[@galloe8933]

When I rolled out of bed this morning, I feed the critters, feed myself, clean up the mess the critters made while I was sleeping, and then find a new video from Robwords. I had no idea how badly I wanted to know what this video is teaching, but I did, I was shocked too. I thoroughly enjoy this channel, and its host.

[@wilhelmloof8752]

Early English “Yuletide” is very close to the Swedish word for Christmas time “juletid”.

[@sarahgilbert8036]

@Sao Ham nope. Jul - the Old Norse Jól - has nothing to do with anything jewish. Only Christmas does, with Jesus being born in that area.

[@Undivided_X]

@@sarahgilbert8036 yule has more pagan roots I guess

[@heimirjosefsson510]

Interesting. In Icelandic the word for month is "mánuður". Similar to the Saxon language. Jól is Christmas and we had very different names for the months in the past.

[@MyBelch]

In Japanese they simply use the number 1-12, followed by the word for moon -- gatsu. January is ichigatsu, 一月 Very easy to remember.

[@nekotranslates]

So... February - Nigatsu March - Sangatsu April - Shigatsu May - Gogatsu ?

[@MyBelch]

@@nekotranslates Hai. Kantan, deshoo?

[@nekotranslates]

@@MyBelch I don't even know Japanese tbf, yet I do listen to Japanese songs

[@MyChihuahua]

And Scriptural!

[@PAWfessionalTennis]

Same in Chinese. And they also do it for the days of the week while in Japanese you have Sunday and Mo(o)nday and the other days are linked to the five elements fire (Tuesday), water (Wednesday), wood (Thursday), metal (Friday) & Earth (Saturday)

[@lostslough]

This was fascinating! I knew some of the Latin roots for the months, but some of them and all of the Anglo-Saxon ones were new to me. But one interesting note: In England, at least, January has not been the first month of the year for the whole past 2,000+ years. From 1155 until England adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, March 25 (aka Lady Day) was the first day of the new year. That's why sometimes historians will write dates of significant events between January 1 and March 25 of those years to include two years, especially if the dating on a document conflicts with the modern dating system. So you might see, for example, some papers citing the execution of King Charles I as on 30 January 1648/49, as many of the documents (such as his death warrant) say 1648 as that's what year it was by the old reckoning, but it happened in 1649 by modern dating. (You likely already knew all this, I just think it's interesting!)

[@johannagoldenberg3300]

I, however, did not know this, as no history teacher never explained the double year notation. Thank you!

[@johnleake5657]

I hope you don't mind me saying that I think you've got the double year wrong. As I understand it, the problem isn't the change from Julian to Gregorian calendars but the fact that laws were dated according to reginal year. So a law like the _Safety of Berwick and Carlisle Act 1495-96_ would be referred to as 11 Henry VII c.61. The 11 is the reginal year, the c.61 is the number ( _caput_. or 'chapter') of the act in the statute book for that reginal year. Now, Henry VII's accession was formally on 21 Aug 1485, so his first reginal year began on that date, and his second on the first anniversary of the accession, etc. So regnal year 11 began on Aug 21 1495. And as c.61 falls toward the end of the reginal year, after December, the date for the act includes both the start of the reginal year and the year the act was passed, hence 1495-96.

[@lostslough]

@@johnleake5657 OK, maybe my comments are disappearing because I'm trying to include a link? Sorry if you get this FOUR times (seriously). But we're talking about different things. If you search for English dual dating, you should find a Wikipedia page and a bunch of other sources about what I am talking about. This kind of double dating (where a year was written like 1720/21 or 1720/1) was due to English sticking to the Julian calendar while much of Europe switched to the Gregorian. It's different from the regnal dating you are talking about. I'm giving up after this comment, if it doesn't post, it doesn't post. And if the other three show up, my apologies for spamming you!

[@chrishartley1210]

In Europe, the first day of the year started to change in the 16th C. (1522 for the Venetian Republic) Scotland changed in 1600. England was one of the last to change, 1751 started on 25 March and ended on 31 December meaning it was only 275days long. However, the Gregorian calendar was not adopted until September 1752 which meant that 1752 (a leap year) only had 355 days. It has puzzled me why they didn't simply state that 1752 was not a leap year and only remove 10 days. In any case, in order that there were no winners or losers financially all the legal dates were moved by 11 days so that financial periods did not change. The other thing they could have done would be to declare that there would be no leap years from 1752 to 1792 inclusive. This would have used up the 11 days in an orderly fashion with nobody complaining (except the Feb 29ers) about the lost days, and no need to shift the legal dates.

[@DanG1812]

This is, I believe, why April 1st is known as Fools Day, because the English were so late in ditching the old March New Year's whereas everyone else had moved on, so they were the "fools."

[@lisakilmer2667]

Another comment praising your vlogs! Native American Cherokee month names : Cold Moon, Bone Moon (eating bone marrow due to lack of food sources), Wind, Flower, Planting Moons, Green Corn Moon, Corn in Tassel Moon, Ripe Corn Moon, End of Fruit Moon, Nut, Harvest, Hunting, Snow Moons. It's interesting from the comments how many languages have a spring flower month and a late animal-killing month.

[@troelspeterroland6998]

Here are some archaic Danish month names: 1 glugmåned - "sight hole month", either from peeping outdoors or, figuratively, into the new year. 2 blidemåned - "gentle month", or rather in an archaic meaning: "white from mist and snow". 3 tordmåned - uncertain meaning; maybe "manure month". 4 græsmåned/fåremåned - "grass month/sheep month"; the sheep are now out on the grass. 5 blomstermåned - "flower month". 6 skærsommer(måned) - "radiant summer (month)". Still used poetically about the early summer. 7 ormemåned - "worm (or, archaically, snake) month" either referring to vipers or to maggots. 8 høstmåned - "harvest month". 9 fiskemåned - "fish month". 10 sædemåned - "sowing month". 11 slagtemåned - "butchering month" 12 kristmåned - "Christ month". Today, "græs" (grass) can actually be a slang word for cannabis so here it fits with April.😀

[@erinmalone2669]

I love learning from you! I don’t miss college homework, but I miss learning, so these videos bring me so much joy. As an American of Northern European ancestry I enjoy the old English info!

[@patrickhayes3099]

I agree with one edit, "I love learning WITH you," as we are in a conversation about words since I find myself asking questions that seem to then be answered.

[@LearningSpanishwithDrL]

Rob, I didn't know you were a news anchor!

[@ErikHare]

I also saw Rob doing his day job with Deutsche Welle

[@usererrer7493]

I just about fell out of my chair when I clicked on a DW video about Ukraine and....there was Rob from RobWords.

[@mzadro7]

What’s the video? Now I’m curious lol

[@usererrer7493]

@@mzadro7 kzbin.info/www/bejne/nX7OkI2up9d9hdU

[@derbazi257]

He also did a piece on planes and mostly plane industry a few years ago.

[@susanwestern6434]

@@usererrer7493 I saw that too.

[@evajansen7807]

In swedish we call month månad, and the difference in pronunciation is just that we have a d sound at the end. We call Christmas jul, which is pronounced very similar to joul.

[@pepito281scorpion9]

I m french, found your video ranfomly. What a gem! Cant wait to watch the rest. Thx so much

[@vafantazia]

Thanks for another great video! In Spanish, April is called Abril. And there is a verb "abrir", which means "to open". I thought it is connected with english word :)

[@jeaneltawil]

That was absolutely awesome. Loved the episode. I had a few ideas about some of the month names but you just made them all more than clear! Hoping for a week day name video next. I'm sure there's a handful of surprises there too

[@bethwilliams4903]

Another gem, you have a delightful presentation manner, whimsy mixed with information I have found no where else

[@chloewilliams1112]

Just read an article by Susie Dent where she introduced me to a new word, apricity. The definition of this word is, "Sunny, having lots of sunshine, warmed by the sun". When checking the etymology of this word, I was not surprised to find that it has a Latin root in the word APRICUS or APRICITAS. This seems a much more likely source of the name April for the month when we frequently experience lots of sunshine for the first time in the year.

[@jensschroder8214]

Alternative German month names: 1. Jänner ! Hartung 2. Horung, Sellemond, old Engl: Solmonad 3. Lenz ! old Engl. Lide, Hlyda 4. Ostermond, old Engl Eastermonad 5. Wonnemond 6. Barchmond 7. Heumond; old Engl: hærfest 8. Erntemond 9. Herbstmond , Scheiding 10. Weinmond, Gilbmond. Laubfall 11. Nebelmond 12. Julmond ! These are still very common

[@wingedhussar1117]

Hartung, Eismond = Jänner Hornung, Thaumond = Februar Lenzing, Lenzmond, Frühlingsmond = März Keimmond, Ostermond = April Wonnemond, Weidemond = Mai Brachet, Brachmond = Juni Heuert, Heumond = Juli Ernting, Erntemond = August Scheiding, Herbstmond = September Gilbhart, Weinmond = Oktober Nebeling, Nebelmond, Wintermond (gelegentlich auch Herbstmond) = November Julmond, Christmond = Dezember These names sound pretty cool. I am thinking about starting to use them when speaking German XD

[@RobWords]

Glorious!

[@InfiniteDeckhand]

Most of these sound like they are made-up. Besides, ''Lenz'' means ''spring'', not ''March''. According to my knowledge at least.

[@Eddi.M.]

Well, "common" I would not really call them, they were mainly used poetically and only a handful of them, ie the first three and Wonnemonat. Hærfest fits better to Erntemond, it seems. But I might be wrong. Horung or Hornung? I thought the latter.

[@dominic.h.3363]

Very common? Nie von denen gehört...

[@dr.victorvs]

The word for "April" in Portuguese is "abril" (lowercase; sounds like "abreel"), which, like the Latin, is also very close to "abrir" ("abree'h"), which also means "to open". Wordplays are very common. It's not strong evidence as p→b is a common form of evolution, though.

[@carlosacta8726]

So good to finally discover people interested in such arcane and fun stuff!!!!!!

[@paulanthonyjohns]

Rob is so freaking awesome

[@annafirnen4815]

Gotta love being born in the Weedmonth 😂 Interesting you mentioned that "month" used to mean "moon", it must have been similar thing across indo-european languages since in Polish the word for month "miesiąc" also apparently was used to reffer to moon. But over time we found a new word for it. For fun comparison, here are Polish names of months: January -> Styczeń: it's not clear exactly where it came from. Two theories are either the word "stykać" meaning "to contact/meet" because January is the start of new year connected to the old year. 2nd version has something to do with word "siekać" (to chop) cause during this month trees were cut for lumber or something. February -> Luty: in Old Polish that word meant "sharp/ruthless/severe" and was used because February here used to bring severe frost. March -> Marzec: this one actualy came from Latin so it's the same as in English April -> Kwiecień: it comes from the word for "flower" (kwiat) since it's the month of flowers blooming. May -> Maj: another one that came from Latin June -> Czerwiec: comes from the name of little red bugs that are active during this month. They are called "czerwie". They were used to create red dye. That's why in Polish word "red" also derives from them (czerwony). July -> Lipiec: took its form from "Lipa", name of the lime/linden tree which is blooming at that time August -> Sierpień: comes from the word "sierp" meaning "sickle", because it was the month of harvest. September -> Wrzesień: means something like 'month of heathers' ("wrzos" is heather in PL) October -> Październik: relates to the making of linen. "Paździerze" are the dry stalks of flax/linseed. November -> Listopad: literally means "falling leaves" which is self-explanatory December -> Grudzień: comes from "gruda", word for "frozen ground"

[@watchmakerful]

Ukrainian has almost the same month names (sometimes with different suffixes), but March is "berezeń" from the word "bereza" (birch), May is "traweń" from "trawa" (grass), October is "żowteń" from "żowtyj" (yellow, for yellow leaves on trees).

[@celinasolimeo]

As a brazilian let me tell you the months in Portuguese : Janeiro , Fevereiro, Março, Abril , Maio , Junho , Julho , Agosto, setembro, outubro, novembro, dezembro . They are so similar to the English ones. Love your videos , congrats 👏

[@niiflinstone23]

I am Ghanaian and among the many languages in my country (even if English is considered the state language) is Ga. In Ga, we refer to "month" as nyɔŋ (pronounced nnyon). The word is culled from nyɔŋtsere (nnyon-tse-re) which means "moon". Just bringing this up because it's interesting seeing that the conception of "month" in far away ancient Albion was also predicated on the moon.

[@apinakapinastorba]

In Finnish it’s mostly nature and agriculture related: January, tammikuu, pole month. Like the year turns around the pole. February, helmikuu, ice pearl month. March, maaliskuu, soil month. April, huhtikuu, forest burn-clearing month. May, toukokuu, sowing month. June, kesäkuu, fallow month. July, heinäkuu, hay month. August, elokuu, harvest month. September, syyskuu, autumn month. October, lokakuu, mud month. November, marraskuu, month of death. December, joulukuu, yule month.

[@donnariahi2975]

😂😂 Great word ‘monking’ in reference to St. Bede. I will have to find a way to use it.

[@Milamberinx]

Maybe talk about it in reference to the fascinating marginalia found in medieval books. The monks tasked with copying texts found monking quite boring so they drew fanciful images in the margins around the words.

[@Mariazellerbahn]

Aprilis was the God of Italian motor bikes.

[@jamesdickison8991]

I taught this same class several years ago. The only difference is that you include old English ❤️. If I were to teach it again I would assign your video as pre-class viewing. Excellent content, thank you

[@maelztrom6597]

This was very interesting. I wish I knew someone like you IRL, I'm sure you would be able to hold a fascinating conversation. Thank you for the video, it was fantastic to hear your wealth of knowledge.

[@brucematthews6417]

I always wondered about how 10 was actually 12. This clears it up nicely! Great video! Love them all actually. But this one really nailed a long standing question.

[@JeremyWS]

There is an old Christian name for Easter and that is *Pascha*, it's where we get our word *Paschal*. I wish this name for Easter would catch on again, because it would match nicely with the Jewish holiday of Passover, because both celebrations would have the same root names again. Easter basically is a Christianized Passover celebration, after all. So it would make sense if that celebration had a name similar to Passover, which is why I suggest we start calling it *Pascha* again. In fact, a lot of other languages still call *Easter*, *Pascha*. But I would suggest we spell it like this *Paska*, in American English. I actually already knew all this information about the months and their origins. I had to learn this information when I was developing a calendar for Mars (the planet). I developed a 22-month calendar for Mars and I needed names for the 10 new months, so I went to the Zodiac system for those names. This was a trend that was started by previous calendar proposals for Mars, so I kept the trend going with my proposal too. [I dropped the Zodiac signs of Virgo and Cancer, to whittle it down to a 22-month calendar.] Have you done a video on the origin of the days of the week names?

[@PeloquinDavid]

As far as I know, all the Romance languages still use some variant of the Hebrew Pesach (Passover) for Easter. The French variant for Easter ("Pâques") - though a singular proper noun - has a plural form that I have always assumed was a reference to a new or second Passover ("Pâque" without the "s" referring to the Jewish Passover), underlining how the early Christians saw their movement as a continuation or renewal of the original covenant of the Israelites with their God.

[@user-bi4eo3ys1f]

When reading the word "Easter" in this video, I imagined rooster instead, or a cock. When reading the word "Pascha", I have read it as "pasha". In my native Russian it is named "Пасха" [pasxa] , but my grandmother called it "Паска" [paska], what means "grazing".

[@kimvibk9242]

In the Scandinavian languages there has been a vowel shift so the 'a' is now our local vowel 'å'. Danes and Norwegians call it 'påske', and the Swedes just 'påsk'.

[@user-bi4eo3ys1f]

@@kimvibk9242 Listening to the word "påsk", I hear [posk]. Listening to the word "må", I hear ['mua].

[@kimvibk9242]

@@user-bi4eo3ys1f Spot on!

[@entwistlefromthewho]

Unbelievably, the Welsh name for February "Chwefror" is also from the Latin "Februarius". During the Roman occupation the Britons spoke Brythonic (or Brittonic) which, at the time, had no /f/ phoneme, nor anything similar; what they *did* have was something like /hʷ/ or /χʷ/ which developed into the modern Welsh cluster /χw/. This marks 'Chwefror" as a very early borrowing as later borrowings like Latin fenestra 'window' were borrowed with the 'f' as Welsh 'ffenest(r)'. The rest of 'Chwefror' is easily explained as intervocalic /b/ > /v/ (written as 'f') and the loss of final syllables, so losing -ius.

[@trashpanda2200]

It's very interesting to see the similarities between the Anglo saxan names for months and swedish words. The word for month was pronounced almost the same as the swedish "månad". A lot of them were similar, I think it's very fascinating

[@thestralkey]

Omg, this is so interesting! Can you please do the same about days of the week!

[@mrharvest]

He mentions a few of them here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jprQhnqIjZ1kjJo

[@phossilphil4201]

Now I understand why the Christmas ball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was called the Yule Ball, never understood why it was called this until now, but looks like J K Rowling put more effort into her books than I thought

[@JeanBaptistePollien]

Gotta love those lovely months names given by the French revolution in 1791: Nivôse / Pluviôse / Ventôse for the winter months, Germinal / Floréal / Prairial for spring, Messidor / Thermidor / Fructidor for summer and Vendémiaire / Brumaire / Frimaire for autumn. I think they're neat and cleverly thought.

[@frankbanks7549]

Rob, I do so enjoy your sessions. Being an Australian provides an even greater distance from the language you explain and if anything, amplifies your message. Thank you for you insight and for the manner in which you present it. I will give you my greatest compliment, you are a serious Nerd. I have been a subscriber for many months now and have enjoyed the back catalogue.

[@JavierAlbinarrate]

What I wonder is how they ended up with the "ber" suffix given that the Latin names didn't have that.

[@timflatus]

The etymology of "Easter" is constantly under question, although I agree that Bede's theory on this does seem the most likely. The main reason all our month names come from Latin is that our entire calendar came from the Romans. It does contain some interesting fossils from the pre-Christian era, but our modern calendar essentially a Christian construct - the pre-Christian names probably refer to observable moon cycles as opposed to day counted "months". Talking of observability, equinoxes are relatively difficult to observe, so the Greeks often began their years at Summer Solstice and the Egyptians based their calendar on the flooding of the Nile. Before the invention of leap years, temporal anomalies were corrected by reference to regular migrations or the flowering of certain plants. The Irish call May "Bealtaine", August "Lúnasadh", September and October are "Fómhair" (harvest) and November is "Samhain". The Cornish and Bretons call November the black month "Mis Du", and along with the Welsh, June is "Mehefin" or something similar and July is "Gorffennaf", the names meaning middle and end of summer respectively.

[@timflatus]

Disclaimer - the above is a chronic over-simplification.

[@irynakalychak6821]

What a beautiful style of recounting history. Very pleasant to listen to.

[@steveaustin2686]

15:02 The US having the National Canabis Awareness month in April, likely stems from the 4-20 memes for the weed you smoke. Apparently the most accepted story is that some high school kids in the early 1970s would meet at 4:20 in the afternoon after school to smoke weed. Evidently, one of the kids was related to one of the members of the Grateful Dead, so 420 moved into that circle of fans. Since a lot of Grateful Dead fans smoked weed, it moved into the wider society that smoked weed, to eventually hit the mainstream. So April 20th is seen as a day to smoke weed, hence making the canabis awareness day in April also makes sense.

[@arunassl876]

Back to February. As you mentioned, the old Saxon name was "solmonath" which would by silly to relate to the sun. Not necessarily. In Lithuanian (possibly the most archaic living Indoeuropean language) February is "vasaris", while summer is "vasara". That means like the month is related to summer. The relation is supposed to be because of the days getting longer and the sun shining a lot more to the end of winter.

[@AJAYSINGH-ns1vv]

In hindu calender second month is vaishakh.

[@BichaelStevens]

And we, your neighbors, have Pavasaris as spring and Vasara as summer, although the month names are Roman. Who knows why the extra Pa.

[@Bougie92]

Thanks, as always! Your posts are full of information and delivered with a funny twist. Love it! Thanks also for bringing to my attention that I was born, according to the shire calendar, in the month of Winterfilth😵‍💫😂. By the way. Did I recognise your voice on the podcast The Intelligence from The Economist : the French connection Macron’s state visit to America? Curious mind absolutely wants to know. Hugs from Paris.

[@brapboy72]

Always love your etymology videos. I learn so much!!! Thank you, Rob!

[@ernestbeckley]

Best explanation I've heard yet. Thank you!

[@JustSayin916]

Oh, and I LOVE the idea that February, "mud month," was once considered not worthy of a name. My feelings exactly.

[@christopherlawley1842]

Oi !! Some of us were born in that month ;-)

[@seekingthelovethatgodmeans7648]

@@christopherlawley1842 I have a sibling born in Mudmonth. Maybe that is why he thought my name was mud.

[@biaberg3448]

Februar is a fabulous month! I was born in February 😊

[@JustSayin916]

Oh my sincere apologies to those born in February! Whoops...

[@biaberg3448]

@@JustSayin916 😆😆

[@fugithegreat]

It's so fitting that January and February were so dark and dull that they weren't even given names. That's exactly how I feel about those months myself and I wish I could skip them altogether. At the very least, I'd like to extend Christmas lights season to the end of February, because they really do cheer up the winter season for me.

[@frankbrennos]

100%! Let's move Christmas to the end of February!

[@S_H_A_R_N_I_E]

December and January are my favourite because I love shorter days. You may have SAD if you dislike the darkness or winter

[@mary-alicetully9843]

I totally love all your videos. Thank you for your effort and delightful presentations.

[@mahna_mahna]

Another fantastic video. I love hearing origins of things we see so much we take them for granted.

[@dawnmichelle4403]

I think March would be a preferable month for the beginning of the year. Spring is such a lovely season of new birth and beginnings!

[@justayoutuber1906]

Unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere.

[@mbdg6810]

True, but in my area of the U.S we really don’t get a true spring in march, snow is still a possibility until temps rise to a consistent warm state.

[@ajrwilde14]

agreed, the move to Jan 1st needs to be reversed

[@GlenHunt]

Berlin sure is an aurally rich city! I remember hearing somewhere there were 13 months in the calendar year at one point since the Moon orbits 13 times a year. True?

[@eekee6034]

Many calendars were "lunisolar", meaning that the months were determined by the moon but the year, of course, had to be synchronized with the sun every now and then. They'd do this by inserting a 13th month at the end of the year.

[@philmarsh5593]

Just come across this channel and loving the content so far. Every one blows my mind at least once with something I never knew. Thank you.

[@danpow13]

This was really interesting! As are most of your videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@graceygrumble]

I watched this, thinking I knew it all and for the most part, I did. I especially love Tolkien's calendar, by the way and was thinking about saying something on that score, when you covered it. However, I thought September, October etc. were out of sync, numerically, because the Romans had squashed in two extra months - July and August. But, it's because January and February were moved. You could have knocked me down with a feather! Cheers for this. I love learning new stuff.

[@brunoliddle]

That was my thoughts as well - I'm sure I'd heard that June & July were 'pushed' into the calendar, but this explanation makes far more sense. Also starting the year in March also makes a lot of sense (even though down here in New Zealand that would make the year begin on the first day of Autumn - but then we are used to holidays and their themes not lining up with what is happening out of the window).

[@graceygrumble]

@@brunoliddle Yes, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter (N.Hem) is the order of seasons, so the months should reflect this order. Perhaps, that order harks back to before the rearrangement of the months. I am off 'tramping' in New Zealand, next month. Going for three months. I went 20 years ago and vowed that one day, I would go back - stunning country and great people. Can't wait! Missing the arse-end of an English winter is an added bonus. 😄

[@timwilder9119]

I love this video. I heard that the Romans naming of their months followed their tradition of giving the first five or so children unique names but the following siblings were named according to the order of their birth…Septimius, Octavius, etc.

[@dancingnature]

I wonder what they would have named my great uncle Teddy who was actually named for an American president but he was the 15th child ! Ouch indeed!

[@john-ic5pz]

I verily enjoy your content as much as your enthusiasm, Rob. Thank you for you, sir.😊

[@zer0nix]

My compliments on making videos so jam packed with information that they demand my full attention! Not many creators can manage that these days and I found myself replaying moments where I looked away! The pictures and writing really do help to cement the information! I cannot express just how happy this all makes me... Or why... I wish your channel continued success!

[@victorpaesplinio2865]

I would appreciate a video about the weekdays names. Latin used to have roman gods roots, and it is still used in the derived romance languages, with the exception of Portuguese/Galician, which has a "christian" nomenclature.

[@MC-yt1uv]

I think the mud theory for "Sol" is likely but I could also see it being a reference to the sun. February would be a time when you started seeing a noticeable increase in the amount of sunlight. Sort of how dawn is associated with the sun but it is still comparatively dark.

[@MrAnshie]

Also I wonder if sol as in salt is related here.

[@user-bi4eo3ys1f]

@@MrAnshie Russian соль /sol'/ - salt, солнце /solntse/ - sun

[@ajrwilde14]

yes this is correct, it's welcoming the return of the sun, we actually still have cakes to celebrate in February, just now we call it Pancake Day and we pretend it's Christian but it pre-dates it

[@Midrac61]

You might want to review your February/Solmonath explanation because there is more and more evidence that Bede was correct and that Sol referred to (hearth)cakes, and not mud.

[@BRBTechTalk]

I am such a word geek and you always stimulate my brain from where we get our words and I love it. Keep up the good work.

[@Yoband706]

The old norse calendar had Sólmánuður but it is not in February. I am surprised they share a name for separate months. The Norse one started at summer solstice. In the Prose-Edda it is called Selmánuður as that is when sheep were moved to sels, grazing fields away from the farms so that the grass could grow near the farms to be mown and dried for hay for winter.

[@ajrwilde14]

okay that's obviously a different thing

[@catherinayoung]

Could you do a video helping understand how to pronounce Tolkien’s words, using the appendices in the lord of the rings books?

[@ianboreham454]

His pronunciation is generally all over the place, so I wouldn't be relying on it 😆

[@eekee6034]

I'd be interested too, except Rob himself sometimes apologizes for his pronunciation. :)

[@ahha6304]

now months in Thai language is a bit sneaky... the months ended with คม (roughly pronounced com) will have 31 days, such as January (มกราคม), July (กรกฎาคม) and December (ธันวาคม). the months ended with ยน (roughly pronounced yon) will have 30 days, such as April (เมษายน) and กันยายาน (September). that left February with the different ending in Thai month with พันธ์ (roughly pronounced pun) so we can see the difference easily which months has many days.

[@andrewmoeller1987]

Awesome video! And I'm glad you included the old English names for the months, as I knew of most of the Roman meanings behind the month names.

[@onemercilessming1342]

This USED to be taught in US schools.

[@logiic8835]

When? 1904?

[@onemercilessming1342]

@@logiic8835 Never took Latin in school, did you? Or ancient history? Ignorance suits you, as does snarking. It shows just how little you know.

[@logiic8835]

@@onemercilessming1342 I don't study dead languages, sorry if that hurts you

[@onemercilessming1342]

@@logiic8835 I don't care if you wish to be ill-educated. You don't matter enough to hurt me.

[@logiic8835]

@@onemercilessming1342 Seems like you got a bit salty from my comment 🤣

[@sandradermark8463]

Could you do zodiac signs next, please? They have pretty interesting mythological backstories to tell...

[@mchagawa1615]

Thank you for sharing - fascinating as always :)

[@lindastansbury2067]

Yet another fascinating bit of history and presented so well, as always. I am in awe of how smoothly and clearly you say those Old English, Roman and Latin words.