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Early Germanic calendars
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.
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 *mēnōþs "month" (Old English mōnaþ, Old Saxon mānuth, Old Norse mánaðr, and Old High German mānod, Gothic mēnōþs), being a derivation of the word for "moon", *mēnô—which shares its ancestry with the Greek mene "moon", men "month", and Latin mensis "month".
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.
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 interpretatio germanica.
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 Tiburtius Day (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, *austrǭ and *jehwlą. The names of the seasons are Common Germanic, *sumaraz, *harbistaz, *wintruz, and *wazrą for "spring" in north Germanic, but in west Germanic the term *langatīnaz was used. The Common Germanic terms for "day", "month" and "year" were *dagaz, *mēnōþs and *jērą. The latter two continue Proto-Indo-European *mḗh1n̥s, *yóh1r̥, while *dagaz is a Germanic innovation from a root *dhegwh- meaning "to be hot, to burn".
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Early Germanic calendars
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.
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 *mēnōþs "month" (Old English mōnaþ, Old Saxon mānuth, Old Norse mánaðr, and Old High German mānod, Gothic mēnōþs), being a derivation of the word for "moon", *mēnô—which shares its ancestry with the Greek mene "moon", men "month", and Latin mensis "month".
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.
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 interpretatio germanica.
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 Tiburtius Day (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, *austrǭ and *jehwlą. The names of the seasons are Common Germanic, *sumaraz, *harbistaz, *wintruz, and *wazrą for "spring" in north Germanic, but in west Germanic the term *langatīnaz was used. The Common Germanic terms for "day", "month" and "year" were *dagaz, *mēnōþs and *jērą. The latter two continue Proto-Indo-European *mḗh1n̥s, *yóh1r̥, while *dagaz is a Germanic innovation from a root *dhegwh- meaning "to be hot, to burn".