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

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.

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"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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..

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).

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.

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'.

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.

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).

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.

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

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)

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

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.

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

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!! 🙌🏻

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