hālig-mōnaþ, m.n: holy month, September. (“ha-lee-moh-nath”)
Calendar pages for September, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile. Netherlands (Bruges), between 1496 and 1506. British Library, Additional 18852, ff. 9v-10. [blogs.bl.uk]
Haligmonð, heleϸum geϸinged, / fereð to folce, swa hit foregleawe, / ealde uϸwitan, æror fundan, / Septembres fær…
—The Old English Metrical Calendar (Menologium), lines 163-67a
Haligmonað comes to the folk as arranged for people, as the prudent, ancient scholars formerly found it, the coming of September…
—translation by K. Karasawa
According to Bede’s De temporum ratione, ‘Haligmonath is the month of religious rituals.’ The Old English Martyrology says that this was the month when pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons sacrificed to their ‘devil-idols’. (Karasawa, p. 116)
So many of the words you have shared have tickled my interest in word/language etymology. Not only do I see words that are similar to modern English, or explain modern English, but many are also parallel to their counterparts in Swedish. Today’s word is a case in point. Halig = heliga (Swedish = holy). From a couple of weeks ago – panic (millet in Old English) explained to me why there is a weedy annual grass called “panic grass”. It is a member of the millet family. I always wondered why anyone would panic about a little annual grass. But it was a whole different meaning than I thought. Thank you so much for this blog!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad you enjoy it. Interesting about panic grass. 🙂
LikeLike
Pingback: Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #1 Pre King James Bible | Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten