The early Germanic calendars were the regional calendars used among the early Germanic peoples before they adopted the Julian calendar in the Early Middle Ages. The calendars were an element of early Germanic culture.
The Germanic peoples had names for the months that varied by region and dialect, but they were later replaced with local adaptations of the Julian month names. Records of Old English and Old High German month names date to the 8th and 9th centuries, respectively. Old Norse month names are attested from the 13th century. As with most pre-modern calendars, the reckoning used in early Germanic culture was likely lunisolar. As an example, the Runic calendar developed in medieval Sweden was lunisolar, fixing the beginning of the year at the first full moon after winter solstice.
Months The Germanic calendars were lunisolar, the months corresponding to lunations. Tacitus writes in his Germania (Chapter 11) that the Germanic peoples observed the lunar months.
The lunisolar calendar is reflected in the Proto-Germanic term "month" (Old English , Old Saxon , Old Norse , and Old High German , Gothic Month Online Etymology Dictionary), being a derivation of the word for "moon", —which shares its ancestry with the Greek mene "moon", men "month", and Latin "month".
Days and weeks Tacitus gives some indication of how the Germanic peoples of the first century reckoned the days. In contrast to Roman usage, they considered the day to begin at sunset, a system that in the Middle Ages came to be known as the "Florentine reckoning". The same system is also recorded for the Gauls in Caesar's Gallic Wars. "They assemble, except in the case of a sudden emergency, on certain fixed days, either at new or at full moon; for this they consider the most auspicious season for the transaction of business. Instead of reckoning by days as we do, they reckon by nights, and in this manner fix both their ordinary and their legal appointments. Night they regard as bringing on day."
The concept of the week, on the other hand, was adopted from the Romans, from about the first century, the various Germanic languages having adopted the Greco-Roman system of naming of the days of the week after the classical planets, inserting loan translations for the names of the planets, substituting the names of Germanic gods in a process known as .
Calendar terms The year was divided into a summer half and a winter half, as attested in Old English and medieval Scandinavian sources. In Scandinavia this continued after Christianization; in Norway and Sweden the first day of summer is marked by the (14 April) and the first day of winter by the Calixtus Day (14 October).
The month names do not coincide, so it is not possible to postulate names of a Common Germanic stage, except possibly the names of a spring month and a winter month, and . The names of the seasons are Common Germanic, , , , and for "spring" in north Germanic, but in west Germanic the term was used. The Common Germanic terms for "day", "month" and "year" were , and . The latter two continue Proto-Indo-European , , while is a Germanic innovation from a root meaning "to be hot, to burn".
A number of terms for measuring time can be reconstructed for the proto-Germanic period.
modern English Proto-Germanic OldEnglish English Scots WestFrisian Dutch LowSaxon German OldNorse Icelandic Faroese Swedish Norwegian Danish Gothic Term Nynorsk Bokmål daytime,24 hour period *dagaz dæġ,dōgor day day,dey dei dag Dag Tag dagr, dǿgn / dǿgr dagur dagur dag,dygn dag,døgn/døger dag,døgn dag,døgn 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 night time *nahts niht night nicht nacht nacht Nacht Nacht nátt nótt nátt natt natt natt nat 𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 week *wikǭ ƿiċe week wouk wike week Wekke Woche vika vika vika vecka veke uke uge 𐍅𐌹𐌺𐍉 month *mēnōþs mōnaþ month month moanne maand Mohnd (maond) Monat mánaðr mánuður mánaður månad månad måned måned 𐌼𐌴𐌽𐍉𐌸𐍃 year *jērą ġēar year year,ear jier jaar Johr (jaor) Jahr ár ár ár år år år år 𐌾𐌴𐍂 interval / timespan / period *tīdiz tīd tide tide tiid tijd Tiet Zeit tíð tíð tíð tid tid tid tid *𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌳𐌹𐍃 hour / timespan / period *tīmô tīma time time tími tími tími timme time time time *𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌼𐌰 Spring *langatīnaz lencten Lent Lentren linte lente Lent Lenz *𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 Spring *wazrą- vár vor vár vår vår vår forår (vår) *𐍅𐌰𐌶𐍂 Summer *sumaraz sumor summer simmer simmer zomer Sommer Sommer sumar sumar summar sommar sommar / sumar sommer sommer *𐍃𐌿𐌼𐌰𐍂𐍃 Autumn / Fall *harbistaz hærfest harvest hairst hjerst herfst Harvst Herbst haustr haust heyst höst haust høst efterår (høst) *𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌱𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 Winter *wintruz ƿinter winter winter winter winter Winter Winter vintr / vetr vetur vetur vinter vinter / vetter vinter vinter 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐍄𐍂𐌿𐍃
Month names
Medieval English Bede's Latin work De temporum ratione (The Reckoning of Time), written in 725, describes Old English month names. Bede mentions intercalation, the intercalary month being inserted around midsummer.
The following is an English translation of Bede's Latin text: "It did not seem [right] to me that I should speak of other nations' observance of the year and yet be silent about my own nation's.
In the old days the English people calculated their months according to the course of the moon. Hence, after the manner of the Greeks and the Romans, [the months] take their names from the Moon, for the Moon is called mona and the month monath.
The first month, which the Latins call January, is Ġiuli; February is called Solmonath; March Hrethmonath; April, Eosturmonath; May, Thrimilchi; June, Litha; July [is] also [called] Litha; August, Weodmonath; September, Helegmonath; October, Winterfilleth; November, Blodmonath; December, Ġiuli – the same name by which January is called.
They began the year on the 8th kalends of January [25 December], when we celebrate the birth of the Lord. That very night, which we hold so sacred, they used to call by the heathen word Modranecht, that is, "mother's night", because (we suspect) of the ceremonies they enacted all that night.
Whenever it was a common year, they gave three lunar months to each season. When a year with an embolismic month occurred (that is, one with 13 lunar months – instead of the usual 12) they assigned the extra month to summer, so that three months together bore the name "Litha"; hence they called [the embolismic] year "Thrilithi". It had four summer months, with the usual three for the other seasons.
But originally, they divided the year as a whole into two seasons: summer and winter. They assigned the six months in which the days are longer than the nights to summer, and the other six to winter. Hence they called the month in which the winter season began "Winterfilleth", a name made up from "winter" and "full moon", because winter began on the full Moon of that month.
Nor is it irrelevant if we take the trouble to translate the names of the other months:
The [two] months of Giuli derive their name from the day when the Sun turns back [and begins] to increase, because one of [these months] precedes [this day] and the other follows. Solmonath can be called "month of cakes", which they offered to their gods in that month. Hrethmonath is named for their goddess Hretha, to whom they sacrificed at this time. Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance. Thrimilchi was so called because in that month the cattle were milked three times a day; such at one time, was the fertility of Britain or Germany, from whence the English nation came to Britain. Litha means "gentle" or "navigable", because in both these months the calm breezes are gentle, and they were wont to sail upon the smooth sea. Weodmonath means "month of tares (weeds)", for they are very plentiful then. Helegmonath means "month of sacred rites". Winterfilleth can be called by the invented composite name "winter-full". Blodmonath is "month of immolations", for then the cattle which were to be slaughtered were consecrated to their gods. Good Jesu, thanks be to thee, who hast turned us away from these vanities and given us [grace] to offer to thee the sacrifice of praise."
Other Charlemagne (r. 768–814) recorded agricultural Old High German names for the Julian months. These month- and seasonal-names remained in use, with regional variants and innovations, until the end of the Middle Ages across German-speaking Europe, and they persisted in popular or dialectal use into the 19th century.
The only agreement between the Old English and the Old High German (Carolingian) month names is the naming of April as "Easter month". Both traditions have a "holy month"; however, it is the name of September in the Old English system and of December in the Old High German one.
A separate tradition of month names developed in 10th century Iceland, see #Icelandic calendar.
Julian month Old English Old High German January "After Yule", or "Second Yule" "Winter month" February ('mud month') "Horn-shedding (of stags)" March "Month of the Goddess Hrēþ" or "Month of Wildness" "Spring month" April "Easter Month", "Month of the Goddess Ēostre" or "Month of Dawn" "" May "Month of Three Milkings" "Pasture month" or "Joy month" June "Before Midsummer", or "First Summer" "Break (ground) month" or "Plough month" — "Third (Mid)summer" (leap month) — July "After Midsummer", "Second Summer" "Hay month" August "Weed month" "Ears (of grain) month" or "Harvest month" September "Holy Month" "Wood month" October "Winter full moon" "Vintage month" November "Blót Month", "Month of Sacrifice"This is probably a reference to the regular slaughter of those livestock that were not going to be kept through the winter, at the end of the last pasturing season, when they would begin to need fodder that was saved to feed the rest over the coming winter. So in addition to any religious sacrifice, the slaughter was also practical. Compare with Welsh: Tachwedd = "slaughtering", and Finnish Marraskuu = "Moon of death". "Harvest month" or "Autumn month" December "Before Yule", or "First Yule" "Holy month"
Modern correspondences The Old High German month names introduced by Charlemagne persisted in regional usage and survive in German dialectal usage. The Latin month names were in predominant use throughout the medieval period, although the Summarium Heinrici, an 11th century pedagogical compendium, in chapter II.15 (De temporibus et mensibus et annis) advocates the use of the German month names rather than the more widespread Latin ones.
In the late medieval to early modern period, dialectal or regional month names were adopted for use in almanacs, and a number of variants or innovations developed, comparable to the tradition of "Indian month names" developed in American Farmers' Almanacs in the early 20th century. Some of the Farmers' Almanacs''' "Indian month names" are in fact derived from continental tradition. The Old English month names fell out of use entirely, being revived only in a fictional context in the Shire calendar constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien for use in his The Lord of the Rings.
Julian month Old High German Middle High German Dutch West Frisian January "Winter month" ("hard", of the ground), ("tanning month") ("fore month") February "Horn-shedding (of stags)" ("bissextile month") March "Spring month" , ("spring month"), ("dry month")