The ancient Hungarian months

We already know that the Hungarian language is full of amazing and, at the same time, puzzling phrases and not even cities can escape the clever wit of Hungarians. Although in these days Hungarians use the modern names for months that are more or less uniform across all languages, the denomination of the months was quite interesting some centuries ago.

	Old Hungarian name	English Translation
January	Vízöntő/Boldogasszony/Nagyboldogasszony hava	The month of Aquarius/of the Blessed Virgin Mary/of Assumption
February	böjt előhava / böjtelő hava	The month before fasting
March	böjt máshava / böjtmás hava	The month after fasting
April	Szent György hava	Saint George’s month
May	Pünkösd hava	The month of Pentecost
June	nyárelő hava / Szent Iván hava	The month before summer / Saint John’s month
July	Szent Jakab hava	Saint Jacob’s month
August	Kisasszony hava	The Virgin’s month
September	Szent Mihály hava	Saint Michael’s month
October	Mindszent hava	Allsaint’s month
November	Szent András hava	Saint Andrew’s month
December	Karácsony hava	The month of Christmas

The Szekler (often referred to as ancient) names are symbolic of and reflect the changes in the season and weather.

	Szekler name	English Translation
January	Fergeteg hava	Month of storms
February	Jég hava	Month of ice
March	Kikelet hava	Month of springtime
April	Szelek hava	Month of winds
May	Ígéret hava	Month of promise
June	Napisten hava	The Sun God’s month
July	Áldás hava	Month of blessing
August	Újkenyér hava	Month of the New Bread
September	Földanya hava	Mother Earth’s month
October	Magvető hava	Sower’s month
November	Enyészet hava	Month of decay
December	Álom hava	Month of dreams

The Arvisura names are taken from a written work, Arvisurák (Arvisures, in loose translation) by Zoltán Paál. According to Paál, the Arvisures are made up of Hun and Hungarian mythology along with these peoples’ belief system, thus his work describes thousands of years of their history and world-view. Concerning the etymology of the Hungarian word ‘Arvisura’, what is known is that it denotes ‘a word that says the truth’.

	Arvisura name	English Translation
January	Jég hava	Month of ice
February	Hó hava	Month of snow
March	Fák hava	Month of trees
April	Rügyezés hava	Month of blooming
May	Virágzás hava	Month of blossoming
June	Napérés hava	Month of ripening
July	Aratás hava	Month of reaping
August	Bőség hava	Month of plenty
September	Szüret hava	Month of harvest
October	Begyűjtés hava	Month of housing
November	Levelek hava	Month of leaves
December	Istenfiak hava	Month of the divines

Source: Daily News Hungary

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1 Comment

Edward says:

20/01/2019 at 21:49

Old Magyar, Hun and Szekely would not have 12 months. I have no idea how many months they would have broken down the year into, but the 12 month calendar is a creation to add Roman leaders names, Julius and Augustus. Prior to that, the year was broken down into 10 months..