Native Calendar Terms in The Celtic Languages
Many calendrical and time-keeping terms used in the medieval and modern Celtic languages were borrowed from Latin and reflect the influence of Roman culture and Christianity on the Insular Celts. The words borrowed include the month names Januarius (Old Irish Enáir, Welsh Ionawr), Februarius (Old Irish Febra, Welsh Chwefror), Martius (Old Irish Mart, Welsh Mawrth), Aprilius (Old Irish Apréil, Welsh Ebrill), Maius (Welsh Mai), Augustus (Old Irish Auguist, Welsh Awst); the names for the days of the week, dies Solis, Lunae, Martis, Mercurii, Jovis, Veneris, Saturni; the terms septimana "week" (Breton sizun, Cornish seithum), kalendae "first day of the month" (Old Irish callann, Welsh calan, Breton kala), tempore "time" (Welsh tymor), matutina "morning" (Cornish metin), vespera "evening", nona "noon" (Welsh nawn), and ôra "hour" (Welsh awr, Breton eur).
A number of native Celtic terms survived the adoption of the Roman/Christian calendar, however:
| Term | Proto-Celtic | Gaulish | Old Irish/Middle Irish | Scottish Gaelic | Manx | Welsh | Cornish | Breton |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day / 24-hour period | *latįon | lat (abbreviation, Coligny Calendar) | la(i)the | là, latha | laa | |||
| Day | *diį- | (sin)diu (to)day | dia | dia | je | dydd | dydh | deiz |
| Night | *nokWt-, *ad-akWi-(?) | (tri)nox "(3)-night, (decam)noct- "(10)-night-" | nocht, adaig | nochd, oidhche | noght, oie | noeth (in compounds), nos | neth (comp.), nos | neiz (comp.), noz |
| Week (eight nights/days) | *oktu-nokWt- / *oktu-diį- | wythnos "8-nights" | eizhteiz "8-days" | |||||
| Fortnight | *kWenkWe-decam-nokWt- | cóicthiges "15 (days)" | cola-deug (doig latha deug "15 days" | pythefnos "15 days" | pemzektez | |||
| Month | *mīss- | mid (read *miđ) | mí | mìos | mee | mis | mis | miz |
| Year | *bl(e)id-anī- | bis (abbreviation, Coligny Calendar) | bliadain | bliadhna | blein | blwydd, blwyddyn | bledhen | bloavezh, bloaz |
| Season, Period of Time | *ammn, *ammn-stero-, *ratio-, *pritu- | amman | amm, aimser, ráithe | àm, aimsir | imbagh, emsher | amser, pryd | amser | amzer |
| Winter | *gijamo | giamo- | gem, gemred | geamhradh | geurey | gaeaf | gwav | goañv |
| Spring | *ers-āko "end (of winter)" (alt. *uesr-āko "spring"), *ues-ant-ēn-, *ro-bertiā ("torrent, inundation") | earrach, robarta | earrach | arragh | gwanwyn, (Old Welsh) ribirthi | gwainten | reverzi (Old Breton rebirthi) | |
| Summer | *samo- | samo- | sam, samrad | samhradh | sourey | haf | hav | hañv |
| Autumn | *uφo-gijam-r- "under wintertime", *kintu-gijamo "beginning of winter", *sito- "deer-"(?) | fogamur | foghar | fouyr | cynhaeaf, hydref | kydnyav/kynyav, hedra, | here, diskar-amzer ("falling season") | |
| May, May Day | *kintu-samVn- (V=indeterminate vowel) "beginning of summer" | Cétamain | Cèitean | Cyntefin | ||||
| June, Midsummer | *medio-samVn- (V=indeterminate vowel) "mid-summer" | Mithem(on) | Mehefin | Metheven | Mezeven |
Read more about this topic: Celtic Calendar
Famous quotes containing the words native, calendar, terms, celtic and/or languages:
“The Iliad represents no creed nor opinion, and we read it with a rare sense of freedom and irresponsibility, as if we trod on native ground, and were autochthones of the soil.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“To divide one’s life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry on its dull wall-existence by the arbitrary timetables we have drawn up in consultation with those permanent commuters, Earth and Sun. But we, unlike trees, need grow no annual rings.”
—Clifton Fadiman (b. 1904)
“Again we have here two distinctions that are no distinctions, but made to seem so by terms invented by I know not whom to cover ignorance, and blind the understanding of the reader: for it cannot be conceived that there is any liberty greater, than for a man to do what he will.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“I find very reasonable the Celtic belief that the souls of our dearly departed are trapped in some inferior being, in an animal, a plant, an inanimate object, indeed lost to us until the day, which for some never arrives, when we find that we pass near the tree, or come to possess the object which is their prison. Then they quiver, call us, and as soon as we have recognized them, the spell is broken. Freed by us, they have vanquished death and return to live with us.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“Wealth is so much the greatest good that Fortune has to bestow that in the Latin and English languages it has usurped her name.”
—William Lamb Melbourne, 2nd Viscount (1779–1848)