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The Arabic names of the months of the Gregorian calendar are usually phonetic Arabic pronunciations of the corresponding month names used in European languages. An exception is the Syriac calendar used in Iraq and the Levant, whose month names are inherited via Classical Arabic from the Babylonian and Hebrew lunisolar calendars and correspond to roughly the same time of year. [1]
Though the lunar Hijri calendar and solar Hijri calendar are prominent in the Mideast, the Gregorian calendar is and has been used in nearly all the countries of the Arab world, in many places long before European occupation.[ citation needed ] All Arab states use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes. The names of the Gregorian months as used in Egypt, Sudan, and Yemen are widely regarded as standard across the Arab world, [ citation needed ] although their Classical Arabic names are often used alongside them.[ citation needed ] In other Arab countries, some modification or actual changes in naming or pronunciation of months are observed.
These names are used primarily in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, as well as by Arab citizens of Israel. Classical Arabic inherited the names from the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars, which are lunisolar. Although the Arabic names are cognate, they do not refer to the lunar months, as when the names are used in their original Babylonian or Hebrew context (indeed, the names of the Gregorian months in Hebrew are based on the German names of the Gregorian months, rather than the months of the Babylonian and Hebrew Calendars.) Nine of these names were used in the Ottoman Turkish calendar, of which five remain in use in the modern Turkish calendar.
No. | Month | Arabic name | Transliteration | Syriac cognate | Hebrew cognate | Transliteration | Hebrew name | Transliteration | German name | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | January | كانُون الثانِي | Kānūn aṯ-Ṯānī | ܟܢܘܢ ܒ | טֵבֵת | Ṭēḇēṯ | יָנוּאָר | Yānūʾār | Januar | |
2 | February | شُباط | Šubāṭ | ܫܒܛ | שְׁבָט | Šəḇāṭ | פֶבְּרוּאָר | P̱ebrūʾār | Februar | |
3 | March | آذار | ʾĀḏār | ܐܕܪ | אֲדָר | ʾĂḏār | מֵרְץ | Mērṣ | März | |
4 | April | نَيْسان | Naysān | ܢܝܣܢ | נִיסָן | Nīsān | אַפְּרִיל | ʾAprīl | April | |
5 | May | أَيّار | ʾAyyār | ܐܝܪ | אִיָּר | ʾĪyyār | מַאי | Máy | Mai | |
6 | June | حَزِيران | Ḥazīrān | ܚܙܝܪܢ | סִיוָן | Sīwān | יוּנִי | Yūnī | Juni | |
7 | July | تَمُّوز | Tammūz | ܬܡܘܙ | תַּמּוּז | Tammūz | יוּלִי | Yūlī | Juli | |
8 | August | آب | ʾĀb | ܐܒ | אָב | ʾĀḇ | אוֹגוּסְט | ʾÔḡūsṭ | August | |
9 | September | أَيْلُول | ʾAylūl | ܐܝܠܘܠ | אֱלוּל | ʾĔlūl | סֶפְּטֶמְבֶּר | Sepṭember | September | |
10 | October | تِشْرِين الْأَوَّل | Tišrīn al-ʾAwwal | ܬܫܪܝܢ ܐ | תִּשׁרִי | Tišrī | אוֹקְטוֹבֶּר | ʾÔqṭôber | Oktober | |
11 | November | تِشْرِين الثانِي | Tišrīn aṯ-Ṯānī | ܬܫܪܝܢ ܒ | מַרְחֶשְׁוָן | Marḥešwān | נוׁבֶמְבֶּר | Nôḇember | November | |
12 | December | كانُون الْأَوَّل | Kānūn al-ʾAwwal | ܟܢܘܢ ܐ | כִּסְלֵו | Kislēw | דֵּצֶמְבֶּר | Dēṣember | Dezember |
The names of the Gregorian months in Egypt, Sudan and Eastern Arabia are based on the old Latin names.[ citation needed ]
No. | Month | Arabic name | Transliteration | Latin name | Egyptian pronunciation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | January | يَنايِر | Yanāyir | Ianuarius | [jæ'næːjeɾ] |
2 | February | فِبْرايِر | Fibrāyir | Februarius | [febˈɾɑːjeɾ] |
3 | March | مارِس | Mārs/Māris | Martius | [ˈmæːɾes] |
4 | April | أَبْرِيل / إبْرِيل | ʾAbrīl / ʾIbrīl | Aprilis | [ʔɪbˈɾiːl, ʔæb-] |
5 | May | مايُو | Māyū | Maius | [ˈmæːju] |
6 | June | يُونِيُو / يُونِية | Yūniyū / Yūnyah | Iunius | [ˈjonjæ, -jo] |
7 | July | يُولِيُو / يُولِية | Yūliyū / Yūliyah | Iulius | [ˈjoljæ, -ju] |
8 | August | أَغُسْطُس | ʾAğusṭus | Augustus | [ʔɑˈɣostˤos, ʔoˈ-] |
9 | September | سِبْتَمْبَر | Sibtambar | September | [sebˈtæmbeɾ, -ˈtem-, -ˈtɑm-] |
10 | October | أُكْتُوبَر | ʾUktūbar | October | [okˈtoːbɑɾ, ek-, ɑk-] |
11 | November | نُوفَمْبَر / نُوَنْبِر | Nūfambar / Nuwambar | November | [noˈvæmbeɾ, -ˈvem-, -ˈfæm-, -ˈfem-, -ˈvɑm-, -ˈfɑm-, -ˈwem-, -ˈwæm-, -ˈwɑm-] |
12 | December | دِيسَمْبَر | Dīsambar | December | [deˈsæmbeɾ, -ˈsem-, -ˈsɑm-] |
The names of months used in the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011) were derived from various sources, and were assembled after Muammar Gaddafi's seizure of power in 1969 and abolished in 2011 after the 17 February Revolution. The decision of changing calendar names was adopted in June 1986. [2] Although the Libyan calendar followed the same sequence of renamed Gregorian months, it counted the years from the death of the prophet Muhammad. [3] This reckoning was therefore ten years behind the Solar Hijri calendar used in Iran and Afghanistan.
No. | Month | Arabic name | Transliteration | Meaning [4] |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | January | أَيّ النار | Ayy an-Nār | that of the fires |
2 | February | النُوّار | an-Nuwwār | the mornings |
3 | March | الرَبِيع | ar-Rabīʿ | the spring |
al-Mirrij was also used [5] | ||||
4 | April | الطَيْر | aṭ-Ṭayr | the bird |
5 | May | الماء | al-Māʾ | the water |
6 | June | الصَيْف | aṣ-Ṣayf | the summer |
7 | July | ناصِر | Nāṣir | from Gamal Abd el-Nasser |
8 | August | هانِيبال | Hānībāl | from Hannibal Barca |
9 | September | الفاتِح | al-Fātiḥ | the lightened |
10 | October | التُمُور / الثُمُور | at-Tumūr / aṯ-Ṯumūr | the dates |
11 | November | الحَرْث | al-Ḥarṯ | the tillage |
12 | December | الكانُون | al-Kānūn | the canon |
The names of the Gregorian months in Algeria and Tunisia are based on the French names of the months, reflecting France's long colonisation of these countries (1830–1962 in Algeria; 1881–1956 in Tunisia).
No. | Month | Arabic name | Transliteration | French name |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | January | جانْفِي | Jānvi | janvier |
2 | February | فِيفْرِي | Fīvri | février |
3 | March | مارْس | Mārs / Māris | mars |
4 | April | أفْرِيل | ʾAvrīl | avril |
5 | May | ماي | Mēy | mai |
6 | June | جْوان | Jwān | juin |
7 | July | جْوِيلِْية | Jwīlya | juillet |
8 | August | أُوت | ʾŪt | août |
9 | September | سِبْتُمْبر | Septōmbr | septembre |
10 | October | أُكْتُوبر | ʾOktōbr | octobre |
11 | November | نُوفُمْبر | Novōmbr | novembre |
12 | December | دِيسُمْبر | Desōmbr | décembre |
As Morocco was long part of the Roman Empire, the long-standing agricultural Berber calendar of the country preserves the Julian calendar and (in modified form) the names of its months. There are regional variations of the Berber calendar, since some communities did not recognise the Julian 29 February in century years where the Gregorian calendar had no equivalent date. When Morocco adopted the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes, the names of the months were taken from this local tradition.
No. | Month | Arabic name | Transliteration |
---|---|---|---|
1 | January | يَنّايِر | Yannāyir |
2 | February | فِبْرايِر | Fibrāyir |
3 | March | مارْس | Mārs |
4 | April | إبْرِيل | ʾIbrīl |
5 | May | ماي | Māy |
6 | June | يُونِيُّو | Yūniyyū |
7 | July | يُولِيُّوز | Yūliyyūz |
8 | August | غُشْت | Ğušt |
9 | September | شُتَنْبِر | Šutanbir |
10 | October | أُكْتُوبِر | ʾUktūbir |
11 | November | نُوَنْبِر | Nuwanbir |
12 | December | دُجَنْبِر | Dujanbir |
A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physical record of such a system. A calendar can also mean a list of planned events, such as a court calendar, or a partly or fully chronological list of documents, such as a calendar of wills.
The Hijri calendar, also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the annual fasting and the annual season for the great pilgrimage. In almost all countries where the predominant religion is Islam, the civil calendar is the Gregorian calendar, with Syriac month-names used in the Levant and Mesopotamia but the religious calendar is the Hijri one.
Intercalation or embolism in timekeeping is the insertion of a leap day, week, or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases. Lunisolar calendars may require intercalations of both days and months.
A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases, in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most widely observed purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar. A purely lunar calendar is distinguished from a lunisolar calendar, whose lunar months are brought into alignment with the solar year through some process of intercalation – such as by insertion of a leap month. The details of when months begin vary from calendar to calendar, with some using new, full, or crescent moons and others employing detailed calculations.
A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, combining lunar calendars and solar calendars. The date of Lunisolar calendars therefore indicates both the Moon phase and the time of the solar year, that is the position of the Sun in the Earth's sky. If the sidereal year is used instead of the solar year, then the calendar will predict the constellation near which the full moon may occur. As with all calendars which divide the year into months there is an additional requirement that the year have a whole number of months. In some case ordinary years consist of twelve months but every second or third year is an embolismic year, which adds a thirteenth intercalary, embolismic, or leap month.
The Metonic cycle or enneadecaeteris is a period of almost exactly 19 years after which the lunar phases recur at the same time of the year. The recurrence is not perfect, and by precise observation the Metonic cycle defined as 235 synodic months is just 2 hours, 4 minutes and 58 seconds longer than 19 tropical years. Meton of Athens, in the 5th century BC, judged the cycle to be a whole number of days, 6,940. Using these whole numbers facilitates the construction of a lunisolar calendar.
In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse.
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a solar calendar. The main other types of calendar are lunar calendar and lunisolar calendar, whose months correspond to cycles of Moon phases. The months of the Gregorian calendar do not correspond to cycles of the Moon phase.
The Iranian calendars or Iranian chronology are a succession of calendars created and used for over two millennia in Iran, also known as Persia. One of the longest chronological records in human history, the Iranian calendar has been modified time and again during its history to suit administrative, climatic, and religious purposes. The most influential person in laying the frameworks for the calendar and its precision was the 11th century Persian polymath, hakim Omar Khayyam. The modern Iranian calendar is currently the official civil calendar in Iran and Afghanistan.
The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar with years consisting of 12 lunar months, each beginning when a new crescent moon was first sighted low on the western horizon at sunset, plus an intercalary month inserted as needed by decree. The calendar is based on a Sumerian predecessor preserved in the Umma calendar of Shulgi.
The Ancient Macedonian calendar is a lunisolar calendar that was in use in ancient Macedon in the 1st millennium BCE. It consisted of 12 synodic lunar months, which needed intercalary months to stay in step with the seasons. By the time the calendar was being used across the Hellenistic world, seven total embolimoi were being added in each 19 year Metonic cycle. The names of the ancient Macedonian Calendar remained in use in Syria even into the Christian era.
Often called lunar mansion, a lunar station or lunar house is a segment of the ecliptic through which the Moon passes in its orbit around the Earth. The concept was used by several ancient cultures as part of their calendrical system.
The people of the Maghreb and the Sahara speak various dialects of Berber and Arabic and almost exclusively follow Islam. The Arabic and Berber groups of languages are distantly related, both being members of the Afro-Asiatic family. The Sahara dialects are notably more conservative than those of coastal cities. Over the years, Berber peoples have been influenced by other cultures with which they came in contact: Nubians, Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, and lately Europeans. The cultures of the Maghreb and the Sahara therefore combine indigenous Berber, Arab and elements from neighboring parts of Africa and beyond. In the Sahara, the distinction between sedentary oasis inhabitants and nomadic Bedouin and Tuareg is particularly marked.
The Berber calendar is the agricultural calendar traditionally used by Berbers,. The calendar is utilized to regulate the seasonal agricultural works.
The civil calendar is the calendar, or possibly one of several calendars, used within a country for civil, official, or administrative purposes. The civil calendar is almost always used for general purposes by people and private organizations.
The Rumi calendar, a specific calendar based on the Julian calendar, was officially used by the Ottoman Empire after Tanzimat (1839) and by its successor, the Republic of Turkey until 1926. It was adopted for civic matters and is a solar based calendar, assigning a date to each solar day.
The Solar Hijri calendar is a solar calendar and one of the various Iranian calendars. It begins on the March equinox as determined by the astronomical calculation for the Iran Standard Time meridian and has years of 365 or 366 days. It is the modern principal calendar in Iran and is sometimes also called the Shamsi calendar and Khorshidi calendar. It is abbreviated as SH, HS or, by analogy with AH, AHSh.
Several calendars have been used in pre-Islamic Arabia. Inscriptions of the ancient South Arabian calendars reveal the use of a number of local calendars. At least some of these South Arabian calendars followed the lunisolar system. For Central Arabia, especially Mecca, there is a lack of epigraphic evidence, but details are found in the writings of Muslim authors of the Abbasid era. Some historians maintain that the pre-Islamic calendar used in Central Arabia was a purely lunar calendar similar to the modern Islamic calendar. Others concur that the pre-Islamic calendar was originally a lunar calendar, but suggest that about 200 years before the Hijra it was transformed into a lunisolar calendar, which had an intercalary month added from time to time to keep the pilgrimage within the season of the year when merchandise was most abundant.
Yennayer is the first month of the Amazigh Year, and has been used since antiquity by the Imazighen in North Africa. The first day of Yennayer corresponds to the first day of January in the Julian Calendar, which is shifted thirteen days compared to the Gregorian calendar, thus falling on 14 January every year. The Amazigh calendar was created in 1980 by Ammar Negadi, a Paris-based Algerian scholar. He chose 943 BC, the year in which the Amazigh Shoshenq I ascended to the throne of Egypt, as the first year of the Amazigh calendar.