It is very interesting to compare the name of the months modern and Old Slavonic. Latin names do not tell us anything, but in Slavic you can notice the features that were significant for our ancestors. July is a sufferer, the time of hard work in the field, October is a wedding, the most suitable time for a gulba, and December is a luthe, a time of cold weather. Popular names help to learn about the life of the villagers, about their observations, signs. The traditional calendar was called the month of the month.
March
It was from this spring month that the year usually began, and not only among the Slavs, but also among the Jews, Egyptians, Romans, ancient Greeks and Persians. Traditionally, the beginning of the new year, peasants associated either with the beginning of spring work, that is, preparation for sowing, or with the end of the harvest. Peter the Great ordered to calculate time according to the European model.
The first month of the year was called birch - in the south, dry - in the north of Russia, as well as protestor, winterbird, beloyar. The explanation of the names of the months in the Old Slavonic calendar is simple and intuitive. Dry, that is, dry, draining spring moisture. Juice, birch - it was at this time that the birch began to give juice, the buds swelled. Zimbor - the first warm month after a frosty winter, conquering winter. Protelnik - the snow begins to melt. March was also called the span of the month, since spring was called the span. Also known are options such as kapeljuzhnik, morning of the year, spring, spring, rookery.
April
The name of the Old Slavonic months is often associated with observations of nature. April was called primrose and pollen because at this time nature begins to bloom, to bloom the first flowers and trees. As a snowman, because the last snow was melting, by caddis - because of a drop and numerous streams, birch and birch-tree - because of the awakening of white birches from sleep. The names are also known as the cunning and the capricious, because the weather this month is very changeable, thaws give way to frost. Since the month brought the first warmth, they called him the steam bath. As you can see, due to the difference in climate in one locality, April was associated with flowering grasses, and in the other - only with snow melting.
May
The old Slavonic names of the months of the year tell us what processes were taking place at that time. The most common name for May is grassy, herbalist, since it is in this month that the growth of vegetation begins. This is the third flying month. In May there are many popular names: pollen (the beginning of the flowering of many plants), yarets (in honor of the god Yarila), listopuk (the appearance of bunches of grass and leaves), mur (the grass-murava appears), rolenika (due to plentiful morning dew).
June
Old Slavonic names of the months of the year may surprise, since many words of the used language are forgotten. For example, most often the month of June was called isok. So called a common insect - an ordinary grasshopper. It is in June that their singing can be heard most often. Another common name is worm, due to the appearance of dyeing worms. You can also hear the armchair (from fire, kres), skopid, grain growing (it accumulates a grain crop for the whole year). For the abundance of colors, light: multi-colored, luminous, rose-color, blooming, blush of the year.
July
Old Slavonic months corresponded to one of the four seasons. The middle of summer was July, because it was called the crown of the summer. Most often you can hear the name Cherven because of the numerous berries and fruits that have a red color. There comes a full flowering of linden, it gives off sweet sticky juice, so the second common name is linden or lime. The sufferer is from heavy, painstaking work in the fields, the threatening is from numerous thunderstorms.
August
The name of the months in Old Slavonic may reflect the occupation of the peasants at this time. In August, harvesting begins, so most often it was called stubble or sickle. Known names are hospice, bakery, cabbage, pickles. Gustar, thick-eater - this month is plentiful, densely eaten. Mezhnyak - as a boundary, the border between summer and autumn. In the north, thanks to the bright radiance of the lightning, the names Glow and Zernik were in use.
September
Old Slavonic names of the months of the year and modern can be very different. So, the ancient Russian name for September was ruyin or howler, ruen - from the autumn roar of deer and other animals, possibly winds. Frown hints at changing weather conditions, overcast, gloomy skies, frequent rains. The name Sunday, Veresen has several versions of origin. In Polesie, a low evergreen shrub, melliferous heather grows. In August-September, its flowering begins. Another version says that a similar name could come from the Ukrainian word "Vrasenets", which means frost, which may already appear in the morning. Another name for September is a mountain ash.
October
The name of the Old Slavic months often very clearly describes the weather conditions. One can easily guess that October is the name of the leaf fall, the month in which the abundant leaf fall begins. A villager can recognize him under a different name - padzernik, because it is at this time that people start to tear, knead flax and hemp. Due to the frequent rains and damp weather, one more name can be heard - the mudman. The main agricultural work was completed, the bins were full, it was time to get married, so because of the many weddings - a wedding. October in Russia was also called leaf-frothing, yellow due to golden autumn. It smelled of cabbage, so it’s a cabbage. And also a breadbasket and a woodman.
November
There is such a word in the Old Russian language - “piles”. This is a land frozen with snow, even a frozen winter road was called the chest path. So November, which presented the first frosts, was most often called a chest, a chest or a chest month. November is rich in names: leafy, leaf fall (the last leaves fall, October gold begins to turn into humus), fossa (heavy rains), snowman and midwinter (from the first snowball in the beginning of the month goes to real snowdrifts and frosts), off-road, summer offender, winter singing, winter's eve, winter's gates, twilight of the year (getting dark early), solstice (the day is rapidly decreasing), stubborn, seven of the year, month of the first toboggan ride (start to ride on a sleigh).
December
In the cold season, such simple and speaking names that called the Old Slavonic months are requested in the language. Our ancestors called December icy, jelly, cold, cold, due to the frosty cold that was common at that time. Mother winter is barking, hence the names fierce, fierce, lute. Snowdrifts are already deep - Snezhan. Overcome cold, strong winds and blizzards - windbreak, windbreak, wind up, chills, draft, freeze.
January
The name of the Old Slavonic months is not always obvious. It can help a modern person take a slightly different look at familiar things. January is associated with the height of winter, its middle. But in the old days it was called Prosin. At this time, the weather more often becomes clear, a blue sky begins to appear, more sunlight becomes, the day increases. Popular names: winter fracture, section (winter is divided into two halves), month of Basil, winter. Frosts are still strong and do not subside - fierce, crackle.
