2002 renaming of Turkmen months and days of week

Last updated

On 10 August 2002, the government of Turkmenistan adopted a law to rename all the months and most of the days of the week. The names were chosen according to Turkmen national symbols, as described in the Ruhnama , a book written by Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan's first and only president for life. According to Arto Halonen's documentary film The Shadow of the Holy Book, Turkish businessman Ahmet Çalık came up with the idea to rename the months, as he was trying to befriend Niyazov to expand his business in the country.

Contents

After the law was passed, the new names were used in all Turkmen state-owned media. Publications in languages other than Turkmen often used the new names too, especially those that were targeted at Russian-speaking citizens of Turkmenistan, with the old name sometimes written in brackets. The old month names were still used in popular speech, however. [1]

Four years after the change, Niyazov died in 2006. On 23 April 2008, it was reported that the cabinet of ministers of Turkmenistan discussed restoring the old names of the months and weekdays. [2] The old names were restored in July 2008. [1]

The original Roman calendar month names were borrowed from Russian. The adopted Turkmen month names were as follows:

English nameOld Turkmen nameAdopted Turkmen nameExplanation
JanuaryÝanwarTürkmenbaşyMeaning "The Leader of Turkmen", the adopted name of Saparmurat Niyazov, president of Turkmenistan and author of the Ruhnama .
FebruaryFewralBaýdakFlag – the Turkmenistan flag day is celebrated in February on Niyazov's birthday.
MarchMart Nowruz The traditional Persian New Year, which is celebrated in March.
AprilAprelGurbansoltan Gurbansoltan Eje – The name of Niyazov's mother, who was possibly born in that month.
MayMaýMagtymguly Magtymguly Pyragy – Turkmen poet, considered by Niyazov as one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the Turkmen people.
JuneIýunOguz Oguz Khan – the legendary and semi-mythological founder of the Turkmen nation, first recorded in the 13th century (see Oghuz).
JulyIýul Gorkut The hero of the "Gorkut-Ata" Turkmen epic.
AugustAwgust Alp Arslan The second leader of the Seljuk Empire, fought a war with the Byzantine Empire and initiated Turkish migration into Asia Minor.
SeptemberSentýabr Ruhnama Niyazov's book, defined as a spiritual guide for the Turkmen nation.
OctoberOktýabrGaraşsyzlykIndependence – Turkmenistan's Independence Day was celebrated in October from 1992 to 2018.
NovemberNoýabr Sanjar The last ruler of the Seljuk Empire.
DecemberDekabrBitaraplykNeutrality – Turkmenistan was proclaimed a neutral country, and Neutrality Day is celebrated in December.

The original names of the days of the week come from Persian. The adopted names were as follows:

English nameOld Turkmen nameAdopted Turkmen nameExplanation
MondayDuşenbeBaşgünFirst day
TuesdaySişenbeÝaşgünYouth day
WednesdayÇarşenbeHoşgünFavourable day
ThursdayPenşenbeSogapgünJustice day
FridayAnnaAnnagünMother day
SaturdayŞenbeRuhgünSpirit day
SundayÝekşenbeDynçgünRest day

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Туркменам вернули прежний календарь, Lenta.ru, July 1, 2008 (in Russian)
  2. ↑ "Turkmen Go Back to Old Calendar". BBC News . 24 April 2008. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.