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Mesori

Mesori (Coptic: Ⲙⲉⲥⲱⲣⲓ, Masōri) is the twelfth month of the ancient Egyptian and Coptic calendars.

It is identical to Nahase (Amharic: ነሐሴ, Nähase) in the Ethiopian calendar.

The ancient and Coptic month is also known as Mesore (Ancient Greek: Μεσορή, Mesorḗ).

In ancient Egypt, the months were variously described. Usually, the months of the lunar calendar were listed by their placement in the seasons related to the flooding of the Nile, so that Mesori is most commonly described as the fourth month of the season of the Harvest (4 Šmw), variously transliterated as IV Shemu or Shomu. These lunar months were also named after their most important feasts, so that Mesori was also known as the "Opening" or "Opener of the Year" (Wp Rnpt) or Wep Renpet. The month was also personified as the deity of its festival, which in late sources is given as Ra-Horakhty (Rꜥ Ḥr Ꜣḫty, "RaHorus of the Horizons").

The solar civil calendar borrowed the festivals of the earlier lunar calendar, though sometimes under other names. These festival names are increasingly attested after Egypt's Persian occupation. The most common name continued to be the "Opening of the Year", although its little-attested synonym "Birth of the Sun" (Mswt Rꜥ) or Masut Ra became the namesake of the Ptolemaic Greek and Coptic month.

In Egyptian Arabic, the Coptic month is known as Misra or Mesra (Arabic: مسرا, Masrá).

The Ethiopian month is sometimes also transliterated Nehase, Nehasa, or Nehasie.

Until the 4th century BC, the beginning of the months of the lunar calendar were based on observation, beginning at dawn on the morning when a waning crescent moon could no longer be seen. The intercalary month was added every few years as needed to maintain the heliacal rising of Sirius within the month. According to the civil calendar, the month fell in order with the rest regardless of the state of the moon. It always consisted of 30 days, each individually named and devoted to a particular patron deity, and was always followed by an intercalary month, although it slowly cycled relative to the solar year and Gregorian date owing to the lack of leap days until the Ptolemaic and Roman eras.

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