Hāliġmōnaþ

Hāliġmōnaþ or Hāliȝmōnaþ (Old English: [ˈhɑːlijmoːnɑθ]; modern English: 'holy month') was the Anglo-Saxon name for the month of September.[1]

The name was recorded by the Anglo-Saxon scholar Bede in his treatise De temporum ratione (The Reckoning of Time), saying only "Halegh-monath is a month of sacredness."[2]

An entry in the Menologium seu Calendarium Poeticum, an Anglo-Saxon poem about the months, explains that "in the ninth month in the year there are thirty days. The month is called in Latin September, and in our language holy month, because our ancestors, when they were heathen, sacrificed to their idols in that month."[3]

See also

References
  1. Cockayne, Thomas. "The shrine: a collection of occasional papers on dry subjects" p.110
  2. Beda Venerabilis, "Chapter XV, De mensibus Anglorum", De Temporum Ratione, Halegh-monath mensis sacrorum.
  3. Bosworth, Joseph (2014). "hálig-mónaþ". In Thomas Northcote Toller; Christ Sean; Ondřej Tichy (eds.). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University.
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