Arabic names of Gregorian months

The Arabic names of the months of the Gregorian calendar are usually phonetic Arabic pronunciations of the corresponding month names used in European languages. An exception is the Syriac calendar used in Mesopotamia and the Levant, which is inherited from Classical Arabic and correspond to roughly the same time of year.[1]

Though the lunar Hijri calendar and solar Hijri calendar are prominent in the Mideast, the Gregorian calendar is and has been used in nearly all the countries of the Arab world, in many places long before European occupation of some of them. All Arab states use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes. The names of the Gregorian months as used in Egypt, Sudan, and Yemen are widely regarded as standard across the Arab world, although their Classical Arabic names are often used alongside them. In other Arab countries, some modification or actual changes in naming or pronunciation of months are observed.

Levant and Mesopotamia

These names are used primarily in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. They are inherited from Classical Arabic and ultimately derived from the Syriac names of the Assyrian calendar. These names are cognate with some of the names of the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars. Nine of these names were used in the Ottoman Turkish calendar, of which five remain in use in the modern Turkish calendar.

No.	Month	Arabic name	Transliteration	Syriac name
1	January	كَانُون ٱلثَّانِي	Kānūn ath-Thānī	ܟܢܘܢ ܒ
2	February	شُبَاط	Shubāṭ	ܫܒܛ
3	March	آذَار	ʾĀḏār	ܐܕܪ
4	April	نَيْسَان	Naysān	ܢܝܣܢ
5	May	أَيَّار	ʾAyyār	ܐܝܪ
6	June	حَزِيرَان	Ḥazīrān	ܚܙܝܪܢ
7	July	تَمُّوز	Tammūz	ܬܡܘܙ
8	August	آب	ʾĀb	ܐܒ
9	September	أَيْلُول	ʾAylūl	ܐܝܠܘܠ
10	October	تِشْرِين ٱلْأَوَّل	Tishrīn al-ʾAwwal	ܬܫܪܝܢ ܐ
11	November	تِشْرِين ٱلثَّانِي	Tishrīn ath-Thānī	ܬܫܪܝܢ ܒ
12	December	كَانُون ٱلْأَوَّل	Kānūn al-ʾAwwal	ܟܢܘܢ ܐ

Egypt, Sudan, Arab Countries in the Arabic Gulf

The names of the Gregorian months in Egypt, Sudan and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf are based on the old Latin names.

No.	Month	Arabic name	Transliteration	Latin name	Egyptian pronunciation
1	January	يناير	Yanāyir	Ianuarius	[jæ'næːjeɾ]
2	February	فبراير	Fibrāyir	Februarius	[febˈɾɑːjeɾ]
3	March	مارس	Mārs	Martius	[ˈmæːɾes]
4	April	أبريل / إبريل	ʾAbrīl / ʾIbrīl	Aprilis	[ʔɪbˈɾiːl, ʔæb-]
5	May	مايو	Māyū	Maius	[ˈmæːju]
6	June	يونيو / يونية	Yūnyū / Yūnyah	Iunius	[ˈjonjæ, -jo]
7	July	يوليو / يولية	Yūlyū / Yūlyah	Iulius	[ˈjoljæ, -ju]
8	August	أغسطس	ʾAghusṭus	Augustus	[ʔɑˈɣostˤos, ʔoˈ-]
9	September	سبتمبر	Sibtambar	September	[sebˈtæmbeɾ, -ˈtem-, -ˈtɑm-]
10	October	أكتوبر	ʾUktūbar	October	[okˈtoːbɑɾ, ek-, ɑk-]
11	November	نوفمبر	Nūfambar	November	[noˈvæmbeɾ, -ˈvem-, -ˈfæm-, -ˈfem-, -ˈvɑm-, -ˈfɑm-]
12	December	ديسمبر	Dīsambar	December	[deˈsæmbeɾ, -ˈsem-, -ˈsɑm-]

Gaddafi's Libya (1969–2011)

The names of months used in the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011) were derived from various sources, and were assembled after Muammar Gaddafi's seizure of power in 1969 and abolished in 2011 after the 17 February Revolution. The decision of changing calendar names was adopted in June 1986.[2] Although the Libyan calendar followed the same sequence of renamed Gregorian months, it counted the years from the death of the prophet Muhammad.[3] This reckoning was therefore ten years behind the Solar Hijri calendar used in Iran and Afghanistan.

No.	Month	Arabic name	Transliteration	Meaning[4]
1	January	أي النار	Ayy an-Nār	that of the fires
2	February	النوار	an-Nuwwār	the mornings
3	March	الربيع	ar-Rabīʿ	the spring
		al-Mirrij was also used[5]
4	April	الطير	aṭ-Ṭayr	the bird
5	May	الماء	al-Māʾ	the water
6	June	الصيف	aṣ-Ṣayf	the summer
7	July	ناصر	Nāṣir	from Gamal Abd el-Nasser
8	August	هانيبال	Hānībāl	from Hannibal Barca
9	September	الفاتح	al-Fātiḥ	the lightened
10	October	التمور / الثمور	at-Tumūr / ath-Thumūr	the dates
11	November	الحرث	al-Ḥarth	the tillage
12	December	الكانون	al-Kānūn	the canon

Algeria and Tunisia

The names of the Gregorian months in Algeria and Tunisia are based on the French names of the months, reflecting France's long colonisation of these countries (1830–1962 in Algeria; 1881–1956 in Tunisia).

No.	Month	Arabic name	Transliteration	French name
1	January	جانفي	Jānvī	Janvier
2	February	فيفري	Fīvrī	Février
3	March	مارس	Mārs / Māris	Mars
4	April	أفريل	Avrīl	Avril
5	May	ماي	Māy	Mai
6	June	جوان	Juwān	Juin
7	July	جويلية	Juwīliyya	Juillet
8	August	أوت	Ūt	Août
9	September	سبتمبر	Sibtambir	Septembre
10	October	أكتوبر	Uktūbir	Octobre
11	November	نوفمبر	Nūvambir	Novembre
12	December	ديسمبر	Dīsambir	Décembre

Morocco

As Morocco was long part of the Roman Empire, the long-standing agricultural Berber calendar of the country preserves the Julian calendar and (in modified form) the names of its months. There are regional variations of the Berber calendar, since some communities did not recognise the Julian 29 February in century years where the Gregorian calendar had no equivalent date. When Morocco adopted the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes, the names of the months were taken from this local tradition.

No.	Month	Arabic name	Transliteration
1	January	يَنايِر	Yannāyir
2	February	فِبرايِر	Fibrāyir
3	March	مارس	Mārs
4	April	أبريل	ʾIbrīl
5	May	ماي	Māy
6	June	يونيّو	Yūniyū
7	July	يوليّوز	Yūliyūz
8	August	غُشت	Ghusht
9	September	شُتَنبِر	Shutanbir
10	October	أُكتوبِر	ʾUktūbir
11	November	نُوَنبِر	Nuwanbir
12	December	دُجَنبِر	Dujanbir

See also

• Gregorian calendar
• Islamic calendar
• Solar Hijri calendar
• Assyrian calendar
• Hebrew calendar
• Iranian calendars
• Babylonian calendar
• Pre-Islamic Arabian calendar
• Rumi calendar

References

1. "The months of the Gregorian (Christian) calendar in various languages: Arabic". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
2. "Libya Changes Names Of Months On Calendar - Sun Sentinel". Articles.sun-sentinel.com. Agence France-Presse. 23 June 1986. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
3. "ACM: Months". Library.princeton.edu. Archived from the original on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
4. "Libyan Arab Jamahiriya - الموقع غير الرسمى للقنصلية الليبية بالاسكندرية". Sites.google.com. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
5. "Tratamiento del árabe". Conf-dts1.unog.ch. Retrieved 25 March 2013.