User:Alcaios/Germanic

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.

Common Germanic
Contrary to the Romans, who reckoned the passing of time by days, early Germanic tribes counted them by nights, basing themselves on the state of the moon. This is evidenced by a testimony from Tacitus in Germania and by linguistic survivals such as the English fortnight and German Weihnachten.

The Germani adopted the method of counting by days and the idea of the seven-day week from the Romans, probably due to early legal, military and trading contacts: "payment or delivery had to be made by a certain day, fines or taxes were to be met by a fixed time ­limit".

"Gothic seems to have been exposed to early influence of the Greek Church in its terminology."

The lunisolar calendar is reflected in the Proto-Germanic term for 'month',, which is related to the word for 'moon', or *mēnan.

Days and weeks
In most cases the Germanic names have substituted for the Roman god's name that of a comparable one from the Germanic pantheon, except in the case of Saturday, where the Roman name was retained and borrowed.

Months
Several Proto-Germanic months can be reconstructed:

West Germanic
>>>> Austro-mēnōþz (Easter-month), Hailaga-mēnōþz (Holy-month)

External links and references

 * Northvegr article on dating
 * Facts and Figures: The Norse Way General information on old Germanic culture, including time.
 * Old High German dictionary, including month names
 * Old Norse dictionary, including month names
 * Old English dictionary, including month names
 * Anglo-Saxon month names