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 Iraq and the Levant, whose month names are inherited via Classical Arabic from the Babylonian and Hebrew lunisolar calendars and correspond to roughly the same time of year.[1]
Though the lunar Hijri calendar and solar Hijri calendar are prominent in the Middle East, the Gregorian calendar is and has been used in nearly all the countries of the Arab world, in many places long before European occupation. 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.
These names are used primarily in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, as well as by Arab citizens of Israel. Classical Arabic inherited the names from the Babylonian and Assyrian calendars, which are lunisolar. Although the Arabic names are cognate, they do not refer to the lunar months, as when the names are used in their original Babylonian. 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 cognate | Transliteration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | January | Arabic: كانُون الثانِي | Classical Syriac: ܟܢܘܢ ܒ | |||
| 2 | February | Arabic: شُباط | Classical Syriac: ܫܒܛ | |||
| 3 | March | Arabic: آذار | Classical Syriac: ܐܕܪ | |||
| 4 | April | Arabic: نَيْسان | Classical Syriac: ܢܝܣܢ | |||
| 5 | May | Arabic: أَيّار | Classical Syriac: ܐܝܪ | |||
| 6 | June | Arabic: حَزِيران | Classical Syriac: ܚܙܝܪܢ | |||
| 7 | July | Arabic: تَمُّوز | Classical Syriac: ܬܡܘܙ | |||
| 8 | August | Arabic: آب | Classical Syriac: ܐܒ | |||
| 9 | September | Arabic: أَيْلُول | Classical Syriac: ܐܝܠܘܠ | |||
| 10 | October | Arabic: تِشْرِين الْأَوَّل | Classical Syriac: ܬܫܪܝܢ ܐ | |||
| 11 | November | Arabic: تِشْرِين الثانِي | Classical Syriac: ܬܫܪܝܢ ܒ | |||
| 12 | December | Arabic: كانُون الْأَوَّل | Classical Syriac: ܟܢܘܢ ܐ |
The names of the Gregorian months in Egypt, Sudan and Eastern Arabia are based on the old Latin names.
| No. | Month | Arabic name | Transliteration | Latin name | Egyptian pronunciation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | January | Arabic: يَنايِر | Latin: Ianuarius | pronounced as /jæ'næːjeɾ/ | ||
| 2 | February | Arabic: فِبْرايِر | Latin: Februarius | pronounced as /febˈɾɑːjeɾ/ | ||
| 3 | March | Arabic: مارِس | Latin: Martius | pronounced as /ˈmæːɾes/ | ||
| 4 | April | Arabic: أَبْرِيل / إبْرِيل | Latin: Aprilis | pronounced as /ʔɪbˈɾiːl, ʔæb-/ | ||
| 5 | May | Arabic: مايُو | Latin: Maius | pronounced as /ˈmæːju/ | ||
| 6 | June | Arabic: يُونِيُو / يُونِية | Latin: Iunius | pronounced as /ˈjonjæ, -jo/ | ||
| 7 | July | Arabic: يُولِيُو / يُولِية | Latin: Iulius | pronounced as /ˈjoljæ, -ju/ | ||
| 8 | August | Arabic: أَغُسْطُس | Latin: Augustus | pronounced as /ʔɑˈɣostˤos, ʔoˈ-/ | ||
| 9 | September | Arabic: سِبْتَمْبَر | Latin: September | pronounced as /sebˈtæmbeɾ, -ˈtem-, -ˈtɑm-/ | ||
| 10 | October | Arabic: أُكْتُوبَر | Latin: October | pronounced as /okˈtoːbɑɾ, ek-, ɑk-/ | ||
| 11 | November | Arabic: نُوفَمْبَر / نُوَنْبِر | Latin: November | pronounced as /noˈvæmbeɾ, -ˈvem-, -ˈfæm-, -ˈfem-, -ˈvɑm-, -ˈfɑm-, -ˈwem-, -ˈwæm-, -ˈwɑm-/ | ||
| 12 | December | Arabic: دِيسَمْبَر | Latin: December | pronounced as /deˈsæmbeɾ, -ˈsem-, -ˈsɑm-/ |
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] The Libyan calendar, which followed the same sequence of renamed Gregorian months, counted the years from the death of 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 | Arabic: أَيّ النار | that of the fires | ||
| 2 | February | Arabic: النُوّار | the blooming | ||
| 3 | March | Arabic: الرَبِيع | the spring | ||
| was also used[5] | |||||
| 4 | April | Arabic: الطَيْر | the bird | ||
| 5 | May | Arabic: الماء | the water | ||
| 6 | June | Arabic: الصَيْف | the summer | ||
| 7 | July | Arabic: ناصِر | from Gamal Abd el-Nasser | ||
| 8 | August | Arabic: هانِيبال | from Hannibal Barca | ||
| 9 | September | Arabic: الفاتِح | referring to al-Fateh Revolution | ||
| 10 | October | Arabic: التُمُور / الثُمُور | the dates | ||
| 11 | November | Arabic: الحَرْث | the tillage | ||
| 12 | December | Arabic: الكانُون | the canon | ||
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 | Arabic: جانْفِي | French: janvier | ||
| 2 | February | Arabic: فِيفْرِي | French: février | ||
| 3 | March | Arabic: مارْس | French: mars | ||
| 4 | April | Arabic: أفْرِيل | French: avril | ||
| 5 | May | Arabic: ماي | French: mai | ||
| 6 | June | Arabic: جْوان | French: juin | ||
| 7 | July | Arabic: جْوِيلِْية | French: juillet | ||
| 8 | August | Arabic: أُوت | French: août | ||
| 9 | September | Arabic: سِبْتُمْبر | French: septembre | ||
| 10 | October | Arabic: أُكْتُوبر | French: octobre | ||
| 11 | November | Arabic: نُوفُمْبر | French: novembre | ||
| 12 | December | Arabic: دِيسُمْبر | French: décembre |
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 | Arabic: يَنّايِر | ||
| 2 | February | Arabic: فِبْرايِر | ||
| 3 | March | Arabic: مارْس | ||
| 4 | April | Arabic: إبْرِيل | ||
| 5 | May | Arabic: ماي | ||
| 6 | June | Arabic: يُونِيُّو | ||
| 7 | July | Arabic: يُولِيُّوز | ||
| 8 | August | Arabic: غُشْت | ||
| 9 | September | Arabic: شُتَنْبِر | ||
| 10 | October | Arabic: أُكْتُوبِر | ||
| 11 | November | Arabic: نُوَنْبِر | ||
| 12 | December | Arabic: دُجَنْبِر |