Ǣrra Līða (; "first ‘liða’") was the
Anglo-Saxon name for the month of
June
June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the second of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the third of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. June contains the summer solstice in ...
.
Līða
There are many theories as to what “liða” refers.
Neopagans use the word to refer to
Midsummer
Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe.
The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr ...
; however, the Anglo-Saxon
scholar
A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...
Bede mentions in his treatise ''
De temporum ratione'' that “‘liða’ means ‘calm’, or ‘navigable’ in both the month and the serenity of the breezes, and the waters are usually navigable.” The fact that the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
word for “to sail” is “līðan” would seem to support Bede's statement.
Bede also mentioned the sailing aspect of ‘liða’ in a second text, writing:
“ se mōnaþ is nemned on lǣden ''Iunius'', and on ūre geþeōde se ''Ǣrra Līða'', for ðon seō lyft biþ ðonne smylte and ða windas. Ond monnum biþ ðonne gewunelīc ðæt hī līðaþ ðonne on sǣs bryme.”
'' the month is called'' Iunius ''in Latin and in our language,'' Ǣrra Liða, ''for the sky is quiet and so too the winds. And it is usual to sail upon the sea.''
Æftera Līða
The next month in the Anglo-Saxon calendar was Æftera Līða, (modern English: ''second ‘liða’''), which corresponds to the modern July.
See also
*
Germanic calendar
The early Germanic calendars were the regional calendars used among the early Germanic peoples before they adopted the Julian calendar in the Early Middle Ages. The calendars were an element of early Germanic culture.
The Germanic peoples had nam ...
*
Anglo-Saxon
*
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aerra-Lida
June
Old English