Months and Calendars in Arabic (was: Synchronic analysis of "rare"?)

On Apr 9, 2:31 am, Yusuf B Gursey wrote:
On Feb 14, 8:09 pm, "alan" wrote:

On Feb 14, 2:10 pm, "Peter T. Daniels" wrote:

No, it's a question. What names does Arabic use when talking about the
Western calendar?

In most of the Arabic world, the names used seem to be modeled on English
and are as follows:
?????, ??????, ????, ?????, ????, ?????, ?????, ?????, ??????, ??????,
??????, ??????

yanaayir, fabraayir, maaris, 'abriil, maayuu, yuuniyuu, yuuliyuu,
'a*gh*usTus, sibtambar, 'uktuubar, nuufambar, disambar

Saudi Solar Calendar:

in Saudi Arabia a solar calendar based on the signs of the Zodiac is
used for civil and financial purposes. I don't remember seeing it in
Saudi newspapers tough. it is explained in Wehr under: ??? Hamal
lamb; ... ????? al-Hamal, Aries, Ram (sign of the Zodiac; astron.);
the first month of the solar year (Saudi Ar.), counted from the Hegira
and beginning on the 21st. of March.

the months (signs of the Zodiac) a

Aries ???????? al-Hamal
Taurus ????????? al-*th*awr
Gemini ??????????? al-jawza:'
Cancer ???????????? al-saraTa:n
Leo ???????? al-'asad
Virgo ??????????? al-3a*dh*ra:'

I forgot Libra:

Libra ?????????? al-mi:za:n


Scorpio ?????????? al-3aqrab
Sagittarius ???????? al-qaws
Capricornus ???????? al-jady [al-jadi:]
Aquarius ????????? al-dalw
Pisces ??????? al-Hu:t



more later, but I'll delete alt.usage.english

On Apr 9, 2:31 am, Yusuf B Gursey wrote:
On Feb 14, 8:09 pm, "alan" wrote:

On Feb 14, 2:10 pm, "Peter T. Daniels" wrote:

No, it's a question. What names does Arabic use when talking about the
Western calendar?

In most of the Arabic world, the names used seem to be modeled on English
and are as follows:

actually they come from North African Romance via Berber.

يناير, �براير, مارس, ابريل, مايو, يونيو, يوليو, اغسطس, سبتمبر, اكتوبر,
نو�مبر, ديسمبر

yanaayir, fabraayir, maaris, 'abriil, maayuu, yuuniyuu, yuuliyuu,
'a*gh*usTus, sibtambar, 'uktuubar, nuufambar, disambar

Saudi Solar Calendar:

in Saudi Arabia a solar calendar based on the signs of the Zodiac is
used for civil and financial purposes. I don't remember seeing it in
Saudi newspapers tough. it is explained in Wehr under: Ø*مل Hamal
lamb; ... الØ*مل al-Hamal, Aries, Ram (sign of the Zodiac; astron.);
the first month of the solar year (Saudi Ar.), counted from the Hegira
and beginning on the 21st. of March.

the months (signs of the Zodiac) a

Aries الØ*ÙŽÙ…ÙŽÙ„Ù� al-Hamal
Taurus الثَّوْر� al-*th*awr
Gemini الجَوْزَاء� al-jawza:'
Cancer السَّرَطَان� al-saraTa:n
Leo الأَسَد� al-'asad
Virgo العَذْرَاء� al-3a*dh*ra:'

Libra الم�يزَان� al-mi:za:n

Scorpio العَقْرَب� al-3aqrab
Sagittarius القَوْس� al-qaws
Capricornus الجَدْي� al-jady [al-jadi:]
Aquarius الدَّلْو� al-dalw
Pisces الØ*Ù�وتÙ� al-Hu:t

these correpsond to the Latin names with the exception of Sagittarius
which means "the bow", Capricornus which means just "the billy goat"
and Aquarius which means "the bucket". Hu:t Ø*Ù�وتٌ means "big fish" and
in the Maghrib just "fish". a more traditional name for Virgo
العَذْرَاء� al-3a*dh*ra:' is السّ�نْب�لَة al-sunbula(t) (both
versions are found in Lane) meaning "the ear, spike (of grain)", but
evidentally teh Saudis opted not to use it.

the Arabs learned of the Zodiac constellations from Greek works.
before they had only the asterisms of the Lunar Mansions man�zil al-
qamar مَنَاز�ل� القَمَر� "mansions/stations of the moon", learned from
Indian astronomy, and their own set of constellations. sometimes they
overlaped with the Greek ones. sometimes the names of the Arab
constellations were transfered to other Greek constellations.


the history of the names are explained in Enc. of Islam II Miná¹*aḳat
al- Burūdj { م�نْطَقَة� الب�ر�وج� } (W. Hartner [P.. Kunitzsch]) "Belt
(later "zone") of the Constellations". I added in { ... } the arabic
script.



1. Aries. al-ḥamal (lit. “the lamb�).
The name seems to be of indigenous Arabic tradition, since the three
lunar mansions nos. 1, 2 and 3 ({ الشَّرَطَانÙ� } al-sharaá¹*Ä�n or
{ النَّطْØ*Ù� } al-naá¹*ḥ, { البÙ�طَيْنÙ� } al-buá¹*ayn and al-thurayyÄ� [the
Pleiades]) are usually identified as the horns, the belly and the fat
tail ({ أَلْيَةٌ } alya) of the animal. Some Arabic authors have
proposed, because of these “horns�, that the constellation should be
rather called { الكَبْش� } al-kabsh (“the ram�), a name which,
subsequently, was occasionally used instead of al-ḥamal . Note that
the location of this Arabic ḥamal extends into the Greek Taurus (the
Pleiades!). In the translations from the Greek, the same name al-ḥamal
was retained for Greek � Κ�ιός.

2. Taurus. al-thawr.
This name seems to be of scientific origin, translated from Greek �
Ταυ῀�ος, since no indigenous asterism (from among the lunar mansions)
has ever been related to it.

3. Gemini.
In the indigenous Arabic tradition, the corresponding constellation is
al-djawz�' (of unknown meaning), frequently used in poetry and old
texts. As a constellation, however, the old Arabic al-djawz�' was
located in the stellar figure called by the Greeks (and so on further
in modern astronomy) Orion. The lunar mansion no. 5 ({ الهَقْعَة� } al-
haḳ`a) is understood as the head of al-djawz�' . The scientific
translations from the Greek added the new name { التَّوْءَمَان�
sometimes التَّوْأَمَان� } al-taw'am�n (“the twins�), after Greek οί
Δίδυμοι. (For Orion, the translators introduced { الجَبَّار� } al-
djabb�r , “the Giant�, perhaps adopting an older Syriac designation,
gabb�r�.) Subsequently, very often (and especially so in the mediaeval
Latin translations from the Arabic) there arose confusion, since the
Arabic-Islamic astrologers and astronomers continued to use al-
djawz�' in its two notions, as a name for Gemini (within the zodiacal
constellations and signs) and for Orion, while otherwise the two could
be distinguished as al-taw'am�n (Gemini) and al-djabb�r (Orion). In
all texts, therefore, special caution is required with regard to the
name al-djawz�' in order to distinguish whether the zodiacal sign is
intended or the southern constellation of Orion, outside the zodiac.

4. Cancer. Arabic al-saraá¹*Ä�n .
Like no. 4, it seems to be of scientific origin, translated from Greek
� Κα�κίνος. No indigenous Arabic asterisms have been related to it.

5. Leo. al- asad .
The name belongs to the indigenous Arabic tradition. Not less than
eight (or even nine) lunar mansions (nos. 7 to 14, or 15) have been
related to asad which, therefore, in modern research literature,
became famous as “the huge Arabic Lion�. It is to be noted that the
indigenous Arabic Lion figure, in location, is again different from
the Greek tradition in that it stretches from αβ Geminorum to α or
even ικλ Virginis. In the translations from the Greek, the traditional
name asad was retained.

6. Virgo.
Indigenous Arabic al-sunbula { السّ�نْب�لَة� } (“the ear of corn�).
This “ear� seems to be of Mesopotamian origin, since this section of
the zodiac was already called by a name of that meaning in the
Babylonian texts. The name has migrated to the Greeks, where � Ητάχυς
became the proper name of the star α Virginis while the constellation
as such was developed into a maiden (Î*αÏ�θένος) carrying the ear in her
hand. With the Arabs, on the other hand, the knowledge of the stellar
object named al-sunbula became obscured, and while, in consistency
with the zodiacal series, it stands for Virgo, it was explained by
some philologists as a name given by the common people ({ العَامَّة� }
al-`�mma) to the asterism otherwise called { اله�لْبَة� } al-hulba
(“the hair�, sc. on the tip of the Lion's tail) and located in what in
modern astronomy is called Coma Berenices, i.e. considerably far away
north of the ecliptic (cf. Kunitzsch, Unters., nos. 117a/b and 275).
This, therefore, is another remarkable case of dislocation. Later, in
translating the Almagest, the constellation was termed al-
`adhrÄ�' (from á¼* Î*αÏ�θένος), while the proper name of the star α
Virginis (� Στάχυς) was translated as al-sunbula (but here, different
from the indigenous Arabic al-sunbula !).

7. Libra.
mīz�n , translated from Greek � Ζυγός. As constellation title, Ptolemy
in the Almagest had retained an older designation, αἱ Χηλαί (“the
claws�, i.e. of Scorpius). Already in Babylonian texts this section of
the zodiac was called zib�nītu (“balance�) and was equally understood
as the “horns� of Scorpius. On the other hand, the 16th lunar mansion
of the Arabs, al-zub�n� { الزّ�بَانَى }, is understood as the claws of
the scorpion. As it seems, there exists a relation between Babyl.
zib�nītu and Ar. al-zub�n� (although the meaning, for the Arabs, has
become obscured and they now understood what formerly meant “balance�
as the “claws� of Scorpius). In translating Ptolemy's Χηλαί, both
Arabic translators supplied the indigenous Arabic name al-zub�n�,
whereas the Ζυγός used elsewhere in the Almagest , and also in the
latitude column in the star catalogue, was rendered into mīz�n .

8. Scorpius.
Here we have a case among the (zodiacal) constellations where a
constellation is transmitted with the same name, and in the same
location, continuously from the Babylonians both to the Greeks (and
hence into modern astronomy) and to the old Arabs. Arabic al-`aḳrab
was already known in pre-scientific times, and four lunar mansions
(nos. 16 to 19; by one author also no. 15, as a fifth) have been
related to Scorpius. It should be kept in mind that originally Libra,
before made into an independent constellation of its own, was
included, as the “claws�, into the constellation of a major Scorpius.
The translators from the Greek afterwards retained the older name al-
`aḳrab for � Σκο�πίος.

9. Sagittarius.
In old Arabic tradition, al- ḳaws (“the bow�). In indigenous Arabic
stellar lore there existed an asterism called al-ḳaws , consisting of
the six stars ξ 2, ο, π, d, �, υ Sagittarii (otherwise also called
{ القÙ�لادَةÙ� } al-ḳilÄ�da, “the necklaceâ€�, or { الأÙ�دْØ*Ù�يّÙ� } al-
udḥiyy, “the ostrich nest�, cf. Kunitzsch, Unters. nos. 224, 229 and
307) which might be a remnant of the fuller constellation of the
Archer. According to al-Ṣūfī, Abū Ḥanīfa al-Dīnawarī (d. ca. 282/895)
assumed that the zodiacal constellation received its (old Arabic) name
al-ḳaws from this asterism. The translators later introduced
{ الرَّام�يي } {al-}r�mī (“the archer�), from Greek � Τοξότης.

10. Capricornus.
Arabic al- djady (lit. “the kid�). The Arabic philologists
occasionally report that there are two kids in the sky { الجَدْيَان� }
(al-djady�n), one of which is in the zodiac, while the other one
rotates (about the North Pole) together with (the asterism) { بَنَات�
نَعْش� or بَنَات� نَعْشَ} ban�t na`sh , i.e. the seven stars of
“Charles' Wain�. (This second one is the star α Ursae Minoris, which
in the time of the early Arabs was not yet the “Pole Star�; in
contrast to the djady in the zodiac, this second one is often called
{ الج�دَيّ� } al-djudayy, in the diminutive.) It is, however, not
clear whether al-djady (in the zodiac) is really an old Arabic name.
At least, no other asterisms and no lunar mansions have ever been
related to it. The translators of the Almagest retained the name al-
djady ; only Isḥ�ḳ added a tentative paraphrase of the Greek
Αἰγόκε�ως, as { ذ�و قَرْنَي� العَنْز� } dhū ḳarnay al-`anz (“the one
having a goat's horns�). (His transliteration of the Greek name,
a*gh*ūḳ�ris { أَغ�وقَار�س }, corrupted to { القَوْقَار�س� } al-
ḳawḳ�ris, was retransliterated in the mediaeval West into Latin as
alcaucarus and is sometimes mentioned in modern books among the names
of Capricornus as a pseudo-Arabic name, even degenerated into
Alcantarus.)

11. Aquarius.
In indigenous Arabic tradition, this was al-dawl (“the water bucket�),
obtaining—in the series of the zodiacal constellations—the place of
Aquarius, but as an asterism located in what Ptolemy (and hence modern
astronomy) call Pegasus, more exactly in the big Pegasus-square formed
by the four stars α Andromedae and αβγ Pegasi. The western two of
these four stars form the 26th lunar mansion, { ال�َرْغ� الم�قَدَّم� }
al-fargh al-muḳaddam (or { الأَوَّل� } al-awwal ), and the eastern two
the 27th lunar mansion, { ال�َرْغ� الم�ؤَخَّر� } al-fargh al-
muʾakhkhar (or { الثَّان�ي } al-th�nī); the two fargh (“outlets�) are
related to the zodiacal “bucket� ( dalw ). As it seems, of the former
Babylonian figure of a man holding a vessel, the Arabs have only
retained the vessel (cf. above, Virgo). But note again the
displacement of the figure outside the zodiac, in the Arabic
tradition! The Greeks, on the other hand, had retained the human
figure together with the vessel (κάλπις, not mentioned in the star
catalogue of the Almagest ). As with Capricornus, the Arabic
translators of the Almagest also here retained the older Arabic name,
al-dalw . Only Isḥ�ḳ b. Ḥunayn added a tentative paraphrase of the
Greek ᾿Υδ�οχόος (“Water pourer�), as { سَاك�ب� المَاء� } s�kib al-
m�' (“the pourer of the water�). (His transliteration of the Greek
name, i*dh*rū*kh*u'ūs, misspelled as { إذروذروس } '*dh*rw*dh*rws,
etc., was re-transliterated by the mediaeval Latin translator as
ydrudurus, thus suggesting, in the first two syllables, a reminiscence
of the Greek ὑδ�ο-.) Other recent Arabic forms, all subsequent to the
Greek name, were { السَّاق�ي } al-s�ḳī, { الدَّال�ي } al-d�lī, and
even { Ø*َامÙ�Ù„Ù� الدّلْوÙ� } ḥÄ�mil al-dalw (“the carrier of the bucketâ€�,
developed on the basis of the old Arabic name and the Greek conception
of a man carrying a vessel).

12. Pisces.
The indigenous Arabic tradition has only one fish, al- ḥūt , located
north of the ecliptic in Andromeda. The 28th lunar mansion, { بَطْن�
الØ*Ù�وتÙ� } baá¹*n al-ḥūt (β Andromedae), is regarded the belly of that
Fish. This is another case of reminiscence of a zodiacal constellation
with the old Arabs, and also another case of displacement of the
respective figure to a place outside the zodiac. The translators of
the Almagest retained the older name al-ḥūt ; only Isḥ�ḳ b. Ḥunayn
translated the Greek ᾿Ιχθύες as { السَّمَكَتَان� } al-samakat�n (“the
two fishes�). (His transliteration of the Greek name, ik*th*uw�s,
misspelled as 'kyw'n { إكيوان }, was re-transliterated into echiguen
in mediaeval Europe and became one of the many rarer names of Pisces
in modern astronomical works.)



sometimes al-zub�n� { الزّ�بَانَى } "the claw" was put into the dual
{ الزّ�بَانَيَان� } al-zub�nay�n, "the two claws".

ban�t na`*sh* { بَنَات� نَعْش� } means daughters of a bier. as a
proper name it could be { بَنَات� نَعْش� } or { بَنَات� نَعْشَ }, i.e.
na`*sh* { نَعْش } could either be triptote or diptote, when used in
this proper name. one distinguishes between { بَنَات� نَعْش�
الك�بْرَى or بَنَات� نَعْشَ الك�بْرَى } ban�t na`*sh* al-kubr� "the
greater ban�t na`*sh*", (the bright stars of)Ursa Maior, and { بَنَات�
نَعْش� الصّ�غْرَى or بَنَات� نَعْشَ الصّ�غْرَى } "the lesser ban�t
na`*sh*" (the bright stars of) Ursa Minor. the bier consists of the
four stars of the body (of the Bear) and the three stars the
followers, "girls". the four stars are likened to the bearers of a
bier, and the three stars the followers, men or damsels, because
{ بَنَاتٌ } ban�t may be a plural of { ا�بْنٌ } ibn "son" or
{ ب�نْتٌ } bint "daughter" (or "girl") when applied to irrational
things; acc. to Lane.

Modern Names of the zodiac constellations in Arabic:

1. Aries الØ*ÙŽÙ…ÙŽÙ„Ù� al-ḥamal ("the lamb")
2. Taurus الثَّوْر� al-*th*awr ("the bull")
3. Gemini الجَوْزَاء� al-jawz�'
4. Cancer السَّرَطَانÙ� al-saraá¹*Ä�n ("the crab")
5. Leo الأَسَد� al-'asad ("the lion")
6. Virgo العَذْرَاء� al-`a*dh*r�' ("the virgin) or السّ�نْب�لَة� al-
sunbula(t) ("the ear of corn")
7. Libra الم�يزَان� al-mīz�n ("the scales")
8. Scorpio العَقْرَب� al-`aqrab ('the scorpion")
9. Sagittarius القَوْس� al-qaws ("the bow")
10. Capricornus الجَدْي� al-jady ("the kid")
11. Aquarius الدَّلْو� al-dalw ("the water bucket")
12. Pisces الØ*Ù�وتÙ� al-ḥūt (the (big) fish)

(Wehr gives سَرَطَانٌ saraá¹*Ä�n as "crayfish" but other dictionaries and
scientific works give it as "crab"; in modern Arabic it is also the
name of the disease "cancer")


this calendar is identical to the Solar Calendar of Afghanistan in
Dari except the definte articles are not used and سنبله sunbula is
used for Virgo.

it seems this calendar has undergone modifications in 1989:





http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/islam/ummalqura.htm



The Solar Zodiac Calendar of Saudi Arabia
The above calendar is officially adopted in Saudi Arabia for all civil
and non-religious purposes. However, for some key dates Saudi Arabia
also employs a solar zodiacal calendar that on average runs parallel
with the Gregorian calendar.
National Day, commemorating the unification of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia under ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn Sa‘ūd on 22 September 1932, is annually
observed on the day when the sun enters the zodiacal sign of Libra,
which now corresponds with either 22 or 23 September.
Since 1989 the Saudi Arabian fiscal year officially commences on the
day when the sun reaches the longitude 11º Capricorn and runs until
the day when the sun reaches the longitude 10º Capricorn in the next
year. In an average sense, these limits correspond with the Gregorian
dates 1 January and 31 December – the occasional one-day shifts caused
by the Gregorian leap day are disregarded.

On Apr 6, 5:30 pm, Yusuf B Gursey wrote:
this deserves a follow-up on the islamic lunar months, that according
to one theory were once luni-solar. I might change the title and add
soc.history.medieval and I might delete alt.usage.english .

also I will discuss the Arabic pre-Islamic calendar and other aspects
of calendar and timekeeping.



On Feb 13, 6:16 pm, "Peter T. Daniels" wrote:



On Feb 13, 4:10 pm, Adam Funk wrote:

On 2010-02-10, Peter T. Daniels wrote:

If you _really_ want to distress Daniel, you could point out that
September through December are not the seventh through tenth months..

A weird thought just occurred to me. Are there any languages that
have names o fmonths calqued from the "wrong" numbers?

I don't mean copies and near-copies of the Latin words, like the
English "December" and German "Dezember", but taking a language's
existing word for "ten" and naming the 12th month after it, for
example.

What names does Arabic use when talking about the Western calendar?
(Hebrew, too, for that matter, but calendars printed in Israel are
likely to simply be bilingual.)


I decided to include the Ḥimyarite calendar, since the Ḥimyarites of
the medieval era used a language / dialect similar to Arabic. as a
written language, they used Sabaic, although two monuments in ancient
Ḥimyarite exist.



Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn `Abd al-Raḥm�n al-Sakh�wī (d. 902) in his al-
I`l�n bi'l-Tawbīkh li-man dhamma ahl al-tawrīkh gives the following
details:





Another (story about the pre-Islamic era) states that the Ḥimyarites
used the reigns of the Tubba`s as the epoch years of their era; the
Ä*assânids (the break of) the Dam (of Ma'rib); and the inhabitants of
Ṣan`â' (first) the victory over the Yemen by the Abbysinians and later
on the Persian conquest (of the Yemen). The Arabs then used the famous
battle days, such as the war of al-Basûs, Dâḥis, and al-Ä*abrâ' the day
of Ḏû Qâr, al-Fijâr, and so on. Between the war of al-Basûs and the
year the call came to the Prophet, there was an interval of sixty
years. This story was told by Muḥammad b. Sa`d, on the authority of
Ibn al-Kalbî.



from F. Rosenthal, "A History of Muslim Historiography", second
revised edition, Leiden 1968, p. 386.).


Yemen used the Sabaean era, at least until the end of Ethiopian rule,
at which point Sabaic inscriptions cease. Beeston and Kister give 552
CE for Abraha's expedition against Arabia, which is dated 662. giving
110 BCE for the beginning of the Sabaean era. other events are used to
calibrate it against mostly Byzantine sources. acc. to F. de Blois in
Enc. of Islam II "Ta'rīkh" In early South Arabian texts, years are
not counted according to an era, but rather each year bears the name
of a specifically appointed official (eponym); but from the later
periods several different eras are attested, the best known of which
is the so-called Ḥimyarite era, with a nominal epoch (according to the
short chronology proposed by present author) in the spring of 110
B.C., though some have favoured a long chronology with an epoch in 115
B.C. . Beeston in "Epigraphic South Arabian Calendars and
Dating" (1956) says that this era was not used until the 3rd cent. CE,
and for a while competed with another era. the Ghass�nids used the era
of Bostra, for they were in southern Greater Syria during the collapse
of the Ma'rib dam.

Enc. of Islam II "Ta'rīkh" by F. de Blois gives the following details
I put the translitration of the Arabic in { ... }:



The ancient South Arabian inscriptions reveal the use of a number of
local calendars, but for most of these it has not been possible to
reconstruct a complete series of months. It does, however, seem that
at least some of these calendars followed the luni-solar principle.
Thus in Ḳatab�n we find mentioned in one text the month �brm, in
another “former �brm� and in a third “latter �brm�, from which one can
deduce that the normal year had a single month called �brm, but the
intercalated 13-month year two months with this name. For the Sabaean
calendar we have at least 13 different month-names, among them a
“former� and a “latter� �ns1wr, but it is not yet possible to
determine their order. On the other hand, the names of Ḥimyarite
months of the period immediately before Islam are not only attested in
inscriptions, but were also still known to Yamanī authors of the
mediaeval period, who list them in Arabicised forms (with variants and
for the most part not vocalised, and thus cited below in Arabic
script) and give a Julian equivalent for each. Some scholars have
suspected that these equivalents are only approximate, but it is
certainly possible that the Ḥimyarites of the monotheistic period did
indeed adopt the Christian (Julian) calendar, assigning indigenous
names to each of the Julian months; the fact that the inscriptions
using these names have not revealed any evidence for intercalary
months might be seen to support the latter hypothesis. One of these
names (Mabkar for May) has survived in Yemen until today, though for
the other Julian/Gregorian months the Latin or Syro-Macedonian names
(see below, v) are now used. We give here the spellings found in the
Ḥimyarite inscriptions (transliteration according to the system used
by Sabaicists) with a specimen of the Arabicised forms and with the
Julian equivalents according to the mediaeval texts; the year began
(as Robin has demonstrated) with April:

1. �ṯbtn ذو الثابة (April) {�ū-'l-ṯ�ba(t)}

2. �mbkrn ذو المبكر (May) {�ū-'l-mbkr} {{�ū-'l-mabkar ?}

3. �qyẓn ذو القياظ (June) {�ū-'l-qy�ẓ}

4. �m�r'n ذو المذران (July) {�ū-'l-m�r�n}

5. �ḫrfn ذو الخرا� (August) {�ū-'l-xr�f}

6. �`ln ذو علان (September) {�ū-`l�n}

7. �ṣrbn ذو الصراب (October) {�ū-'l-ṣr�b} {�ū-'l-ṣur�b ?}

8. �mhltn ذو المهلة (November) {�ū-'l-mhla(t)}

9. �'ln ذو الآل (December) {�ū-'l-'�l}

10. �d'wn ذو الدئاء (January) {�ū-'l-di'�'}

11. á¸�ḥltn ذو الØ*لة (February) {á¸�Å«-'l-ḥla(t)}

12. �m`n ذو معون (March) {�ū-m`wn}



In early South Arabian texts, years are not counted according to an
era, but rather each year bears the name of a specifically appointed
official (eponym); but from the later periods several different eras
are attested, the best known of which is the so-called Ḥimyarite era,
with a nominal epoch (according to the short chronology proposed by
present author) in the spring of 110 B.C., though some have favoured a
long chronology with an epoch in 115 B.C.



the -n is the in the Sabaic names are the Sabaic definite article, �
represents "possesor of" and this translated into Arabic by its
cogante ذو �ū. in most, the Sabaic definite article has been repalced
by the Arabic ال al- . in 6. and 12. it has been retained, while on 4.
it has been both retained and translated. in 3. the element qyẓ-n is
obviously cognate with Arabic القَيْظ� al-qayẓ (either in mid May -
mid July or two months later), the hottest part of summer. Beeston (p.
20) remarks that in the British Admiralty "Handbook of Arabia" the
heavy automn rains fall in July, August and September, so ḫrf means
"automn monsoon". a further identification of ḫrf with automn is
provided by Pliny who says that the automn incense crop was called in
South Arabia carfiathum. it is related to Arabic الخَر�ي�� al-ḫarīf
which means "automn" (in the six season system it either commenced at
automnal equinox or two months earlier, making it approximate with the
Ḥimyarite ḫrf), but was also the name of a rain that fell September-
October. 7. �ṣrbn is to be compared to Modern South Arabian ṣur�b
designating an automn or early winter harvest (p. 17). 1. �ṯbtn has
been connected 1. ṯbt "be firm, but this was a month of floods so it
is to be connected with Arabic ثَابَ ṯ�ba "collect (of water), p. 17.
this is consistent with the Arabic rendition of the month name. 8.
�mhltn derives from mhl refers to a period of "intermission" or
"slackening" (Arabic مَهَّلَ mahhala or أَمْهَلَ 'amhala "grant a
delay"), p. 17. Beeston p. 24 has a slighly different order, which he
seems to find tentative, for what he calls the "late Sabaean
calendar".

On Oct 14, 12:08 pm, Yusuf B Gursey wrote:
On Apr 6, 5:30 pm, Yusuf B Gursey wrote:

this deserves a follow-up on the islamic lunar months, that according
to one theory were once luni-solar. I might change the title and add
soc.history.medieval and I might delete alt.usage.english .

also I will discuss the Arabic pre-Islamic calendar and other aspects
of calendar and timekeeping.







On Feb 13, 6:16 pm, "Peter T. Daniels" wrote:

On Feb 13, 4:10 pm, Adam Funk wrote:

On 2010-02-10, Peter T. Daniels wrote:

If you _really_ want to distress Daniel, you could point out that
September through December are not the seventh through tenth months.

A weird thought just occurred to me. Are there any languages that
have names o fmonths calqued from the "wrong" numbers?

I don't mean copies and near-copies of the Latin words, like the
English "December" and German "Dezember", but taking a language's
existing word for "ten" and naming the 12th month after it, for
example.

What names does Arabic use when talking about the Western calendar?
(Hebrew, too, for that matter, but calendars printed in Israel are
likely to simply be bilingual.)

I decided to include the Ḥimyarite calendar, since the Ḥimyarites of
the medieval era used a language / dialect similar to Arabic. as a
written language, they used Sabaic, although two monuments in ancient
Ḥimyarite exist.

Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn `Abd al-Raḥm�n al-Sakh�wī (d. 902) in his al-
I`l�n bi'l-Tawbīkh li-man dhamma ahl al-tawrīkh gives the following
details:



Another (story about the pre-Islamic era) states that the Ḥimyarites
used the reigns of the Tubba`s as the epoch years of their era; the
Ä*assânids (the break of) the Dam (of Ma'rib); and the inhabitants of
Ṣan`â' (first) the victory over the Yemen by the Abbysinians and later
on the Persian conquest (of the Yemen). The Arabs then used the famous
battle days, such as the war of al-Basûs, Dâḥis, and al-Ä*abrâ' the day
of Ḏû Qâr, al-Fijâr, and so on. Between the war of al-Basûs and the
year the call came to the Prophet, there was an interval of sixty
years. This story was told by Muḥammad b. Sa`d, on the authority of
Ibn al-Kalbî.



from F. Rosenthal, "A History of Muslim Historiography", second
revised edition, Leiden 1968, p. 386.).

Yemen used the Sabaean era, at least until the end of Ethiopian rule,
at which point Sabaic inscriptions cease. Beeston and Kister give 552
CE for Abraha's expedition against Arabia, which is dated 662. giving
110 BCE for the beginning of the Sabaean era. other events are used to
calibrate it against mostly Byzantine sources. acc. to F. de Blois in
Enc. of Islam II "Ta'rīkh" In early South Arabian texts, years are
not counted according to an era, but rather each year bears the name
of a specifically appointed official (eponym); but from the later
periods several different eras are attested, the best known of which
is the so-called Ḥimyarite era, with a nominal epoch (according to the
short chronology proposed by present author) in the spring of 110
B.C., though some have favoured a long chronology with an epoch in 115
B.C. . Beeston in "Epigraphic South Arabian Calendars and
Dating" (1956) says that this era was not used until the 3rd cent. CE,
and for a while competed with another era. the Ghass�nids used the era
of Bostra, for they were in southern Greater Syria during the collapse
of the Ma'rib dam.

Enc. of Islam II "Ta'rīkh" by F. de Blois gives the following details
I put the translitration of the Arabic in { ... }:



The ancient South Arabian inscriptions reveal the use of a number of
local calendars, but for most of these it has not been possible to
reconstruct a complete series of months. It does, however, seem that
at least some of these calendars followed the luni-solar principle.
Thus in Ḳatab�n we find mentioned in one text the month �brm, in
another “former �brm� and in a third “latter �brm�, from which one can
deduce that the normal year had a single month called �brm, but the
intercalated 13-month year two months with this name. For the Sabaean
calendar we have at least 13 different month-names, among them a
“former� and a “latter� �ns1wr, but it is not yet possible to
determine their order. On the other hand, the names of Ḥimyarite
months of the period immediately before Islam are not only attested in
inscriptions, but were also still known to Yamanī authors of the
mediaeval period, who list them in Arabicised forms (with variants and
for the most part not vocalised, and thus cited below in Arabic
script) and give a Julian equivalent for each. Some scholars have
suspected that these equivalents are only approximate, but it is
certainly possible that the Ḥimyarites of the monotheistic period did
indeed adopt the Christian (Julian) calendar, assigning indigenous
names to each of the Julian months; the fact that the inscriptions
using these names have not revealed any evidence for intercalary
months might be seen to support the latter hypothesis. One of these
names (Mabkar for May) has survived in Yemen until today, though for
the other Julian/Gregorian months the Latin or Syro-Macedonian names
(see below, v) are now used. We give here the spellings found in the
Ḥimyarite inscriptions (transliteration according to the system used
by Sabaicists) with a specimen of the Arabicised forms and with the
Julian equivalents according to the mediaeval texts; the year began
(as Robin has demonstrated) with April:


the month names are used in Yemeni colloquial as well, so some of
their vocaliztions are known. the month names are based on the work of
the Yemeni Rasūlid ruler al-Malik al-'Ashraf `Umar d. 1296. he claimed
to be of Arab origin, but in fact was of Turkmen origin. he was a
scholar as well as a ruler.

Daniel Martin Varisco in "Medieval Agriculture and Islamic Science -
the Almanac of a Yemeni Sultan" (1994) gives vocalizations of the
month names. in the manuscript which it is based on, the month names
are given without the article, except 9. the same manuscript tradition
is discussed in "A Medieval Note on the Himyarite Dialect" by George
Saliba, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 105, No. 4
(Oct. - Dec., 1985), pp. 715-717. the manuscript is said to be mostly
vocalized.

also discussed in Daniel Martin Varisco "The Rain Periods in Pre-
Islamic Arabia" Arabica, T. 34, Fasc. 2 (Jul., 1987), pp. 251-266.

Beeston in "New Light on the Himyaritic Calendar" in Arabian Studies I
(1974) also deals with it.

Beeston derives it from a poem dealing with the seasons by a certain
al-Baḥr al-Na`�mī (which he finds corrupt) and a prose work bu*gh*yat
al-fall�ḥīn which is about agriculture, by another Yemeni Rasūlid
ruler al-`Abb�s b. `Alī. he bases his list on the prose work. it is
mostly unvocalized.


the order given by de Blois is the reconstruction for the Late Sabaic
(Ḥimyarite) calendar before Islam by Chr. Robin, Le calendrier
himyarite: nouvelles suggestions, in Procs. of the Seminar for Arabian
Studies, xi (1981), 43-53. this starts in April. the order given by al-
Malik al-'Ashraf and Beeston starts with October, as with the Seleucid
calendar.



1. �ṯbtn ذو الثابة (April) {�ū-'l-ṯ�ba(t)}

Varisco: ذو ثابة �ū ṯ�ba(t)


the verb ṯ�ba ثَابَ in Arabic means "collect (of water)" and the month
was connected with floods.


2. �mbkrn ذو المبكر (May) {�ū-'l-mbkr} {{�ū-'l-mabkar ?}


Varisco: ذو مبكر �ū mabkar

denotes the first of something.

the date crop starts to ripen in Yemen in May. in al-Ḥujariyya bikr al-
á¹£ayf refers to the start of the spring rains.


3. �qyẓn ذو القياظ (June) {�ū-'l-qy�ẓ}

Beeston gives �ū-'l-qiy�ẓ as the vocalization of the medieval text.

Varisco has ذو قيض �ū qay� and so Saliba, but Saliba says that in the
discsussion of the month names notes it has ذو قيظ �ū qayẓ in another
place. Saliba notes the merger of � / ẓ in several modern collquials.
it has also shown to have taken place in Late Sabaic, NEW DATA ON THE
DELATERALIZATION OF ḌĀD AND ITS MERGER WITH ẒĀ'IN CLASSICAL ARABIC:
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM OLD SOUTH ARABIC AND THE EARLIEST ISLAMIC TEXTS ON
Ḍ / Ẓ MINIMAL PAIRS
JONATHAN A.C. BROWN, Journal of Semitic Studies LII/2 Autumn 2007

Saliba remarks that the month name is "Arabized" in al-'Ashraf's list.



4. �m�r'n ذو المذران (July) {�ū-'l-m�r�n}


Beeston has ذو مذران �ū m�r�n


Varisco has ذو مذرا {�ū m�r�}

vocalized as �ū-'l-ma�r�n / �ū ma�r�n / �ū ma�r�

explained by the manuscript as from the sowing of seeds from بَذَرَ
ba�ara "to sow", "to disseminate seeds" but thought by Saliba to come
from �rw ذَرَا �ar� "to winnow", "to scatter seeds" (without
actually planting them)




5. �ḫrfn ذو الخرا� (August) {�ū-'l-xr�f}


vocalized as �ū-'l-xar�f (Varisco).


Varisco has: ذو خرا� �ū xar�f

Saliba says the vowels are not marked in the manuscript.

the word ḫrf means "autumnal monsoon" in Sabaic, related to the word
for "autumn" or "autumnal rain" in Arabic.


Pliny gives the autumn incense crop as carfiathum


explained by the manuscript as coming from the harvesting of fruit
ا�خْت�رَ�ٌ ixtir�f. Saliba notes that خَرَ�َ xarafa means to harvest
fruit.


6. �`ln ذو علان (September) {�ū-`l�n}

acc. to Varisco 1994, with a shadda in texts and contemporary usage,
so ذو علاّن and vocalized as �ū-`all�n

the etymology seems unclear.

Daniel Martin Varisco in "The Agricultural Marker Stars in Yemeni
Folklore" Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 52, No. 1 (1993), pp. 119-142
says:




The word `all�n, derived from the pre-Islamic Himyaritic month name
for September, survives in al-Ahjur of the central highlands as a term
for the late summer or early autumn rains. In the marker system `all�n
covers the risings in late fall of three stars of the Ursa Major
(ban�t na`sh) constellation. In Arabic taxonomy, these are the three
"daughters" that accompany the funeral bier, or square of stars
referred to here as rawabic. The rising of the seven main stars of
Ursa Major in the late summer and early fall is of great importance in
Yemeni agriculture, so much so that the names of the stars may be
given to crops. Although the stars of `all�n rise in the same general
season, it is not the case that the individual stars rise at the
intervals demanded in the marker system




7. �ṣrbn ذو الصراب (October) {�ū-'l-ṣr�b} {�ū-'l-ṣur�b ?}

Varisco: ذو صراب �ū ṣir�b

the Classical Arabic word is ṣir�b, the Yemeni colloquial is ṣur�b
meaning "seed produce or corn that has been sown after that which has
been carried off to the place where it is trodden in autumn"

in Yemeni colloquial and Modern South Arabian ṣur�b designates an
early winter harvest.




8. �mhltn ذو المهلة (November) {�ū-'l-mhla(t)}

�ū-'l-muhla(t)

Varisco: ذو مهلة �ū muhla(t)

muhla(t) م�هْلَةٌ in Arabic means delaying or slackening, it may be
due to the fact that there is little agricultural activity during this
period.


9. �'ln ذو الآل (December) {�ū-'l-'�l}

Varisco, same.


10. �d'wn ذو الدئاء (January) {�ū-'l-di'�'}


Beeston, "New Light on the Himyaritic Calendar" Arabian Studies vol 1,
1974, p. 1-11 has:

�dṯ' ذو الدثاء {�ū-'l-dṯ�'}

vocalized as �ū-'l-diṯ�'

so vocalized by Daniel Martin Varisco "The Rain Periods in Pre-Islamic
Arabia" Arabica, T. 34, Fasc. 2 (Jul., 1987), pp. 251-266; referencing
Beeston.




The month equivalent to January in the Himyaritic calendar was called
Ḏū al-diṯ�' Pliny called the spring incense crop of South Arabia by
the name dathiathum, and the sense of spring is still noted by diṯ�'
in Yemen today, more specifically the spring harvest. In some cases
this term is used in Yemen for a rain period during the spring.






in Classical Arabic, it is cognate with the rain called الدَّ�َئ�يّ�
al-dafa'iyy which is also attested as الدَثَئ�يّ� al-daṯa'iyy , but
occurs at a different time due to climactic variation between Central
Arabia and Yemen.

Beeston (1974) says that �d'wn is an alternative for one of the winter
months, which is attested.

acc. to Daniel Martin Varisco in "Medieval Agriculture and Islamic
Science - the Almanac of a Yemeni Sultan" (1994) this is written in
various ways in different copies.

Varisco (1994) uses ذو داو �ū-d'w vocalized as �ū-da'w based on the
text he uses. this would be consistent with the Sabaic form �d'wn .

Varisco also mentions the form used by Beeston and also other Arabic
forms which are scribal errors.


11. á¸�ḥltn ذو الØ*لة (February) {á¸�Å«-'l-ḥla(t)}

Varisco has ذو Ø*لل {á¸�Å«-ḥll} vocalized as á¸�Å«-ḥulal, on the basis of
the manuscript of al-Malik al-'Ashraf `Umar as a Himyaritic term for
coldness at the appaerance of patchy rain clouds in February.

ḥulal is the plural of ḥulla(t)


12. �m`n ذو معون (March) {�ū-m`wn}


�ū m`ūn


vocalized by Varisco as �ū ma`ūn


In early South Arabian texts, years are not counted according to an
era, but rather each year bears the name of a specifically appointed
official (eponym); but from the later periods several different eras
are attested, the best known of which is the so-called Ḥimyarite era,
with a nominal epoch (according to the short chronology proposed by
present author) in the spring of 110 B.C., though some have favoured a
long chronology with an epoch in 115 B.C.



the -n is the in the Sabaic names are the Sabaic definite article, �

except it seems, 12.

represents "possesor of" and this translated into Arabic by its
cogante ذو �ū. in most, the Sabaic definite article has been repalced
by the Arabic ال al- . in 6. and 12. it has been retained, while on 4.
it has been both retained and translated. in 3. the element qyẓ-n is
obviously cognate with Arabic القَيْظ� al-qayẓ (either in mid May -
mid July or two months later), the hottest part of summer. Beeston (p.
20) remarks that in the British Admiralty "Handbook of Arabia" the
heavy automn rains fall in July, August and September, so ḫrf means
"automn monsoon". a further identification of ḫrf with automn is
provided by Pliny who says that the automn incense crop was called in
South Arabia carfiathum. it is related to Arabic الخَر�ي�� al-ḫarīf
which means "automn" (in the six season system it either commenced at
automnal equinox or two months earlier, making it approximate with the
Ḥimyarite ḫrf), but was also the name of a rain that fell September-
October. 7. �ṣrbn is to be compared to Modern South Arabian ṣur�b
designating an automn or early winter harvest (p. 17). 1. �ṯbtn has
been connected 1. ṯbt "be firm, but this was a month of floods so it
is to be connected with Arabic ثَابَ ṯ�ba "collect (of water), p. 17.
this is consistent with the Arabic rendition of the month name. 8.
�mhltn derives from mhl refers to a period of "intermission" or
"slackening" (Arabic مَهَّلَ mahhala or أَمْهَلَ 'amhala "grant a
delay"), p. 17. Beeston p. 24 has a slighly different order, which he
seems to find tentative, for what he calls the "late Sabaean
calendar".

Beeston's opinions on this matter in "Epigraphic South Arabian
Calendars and Dating" (1956) are revised in light of the medieval
Arabic evidence in his 1974 paper.