French Republican Calendar - Months

Months

The Republican calendar year began at the Southward equinox and had twelve months of 30 days each, which were given new names based on nature, principally having to do with the prevailing weather in and around Paris.

  • Autumn:
    • Vendémiaire in French (from Latin vindemia, "grape harvest"), starting 22, 23 or 24 September
    • Brumaire (from French brume, "fog"), starting 22, 23 or 24 October
    • Frimaire (From French frimas, "frost"), starting 21, 22 or 23 November
  • Winter:
    • Nivôse (from Latin nivosus, "snowy"), starting 21, 22 or 23 December
    • Pluviôse (from Latin pluvius, "rainy"), starting 20, 21 or 22 January
    • Ventôse (from Latin ventosus, "windy"), starting 19, 20 or 21 February
  • Spring:
    • Germinal (from Latin germen, "germination"), starting 20 or 21 March
    • Floréal (from Latin flos, "flower"), starting 20 or 21 April
    • Prairial (from French prairie, "pasture"), starting 20 or 21 May
  • Summer:
    • Messidor (from Latin messis, "harvest"), starting 19 or 20 June
    • Thermidor (or Fervidor) (from Greek thermon, "summer heat"), starting 19 or 20 July
    • Fructidor (from Latin fructus, "fruit"), starting 18 or 19 August

Note: On many printed calendars of Year II (1793–94), the month of Thermidor was named Fervidor.

The English translations stated above are approximate, as most of the month names were new words coined from French, Latin or Greek. The endings of the names are grouped by season. "Dor" means "giving" in Greek.

In Britain, a contemporary wit mocked the Republican Calendar by calling the months: Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Wheaty, Heaty and Sweety. The Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle suggested somewhat more serious English names in his 1837 work The French Revolution: A History, namely Vintagearious, Fogarious, Frostarious, Snowous, Rainous, Windous, Buddal, Floweral, Meadowal, Reapidor, Heatidor, and Fruitidor. Like the French originals, they suggest a meaning related to the season but are neologisms, rather than preexisting words.

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