In the
Anglo-Saxon 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 name ...
, Solmōnaþ (modern English: ''month of the hearthcakes'') was the month roughly corresponding to
February.
The name was recorded by 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 in his treatise ''
De temporum ratione'' (The Reckoning of Time), saying that "Sol-Monath can be said to be the month of
cakes, which were offered to their gods";
It was formerly argued that there is no other reference to ''sol'' meaning ‘cake’ in Old English, and that as ''sol'' is used to mean ‘mud’ or ‘dirt’ in most texts, a far likely meaning is that the sol month was the muddy month, especially given the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
climate at that time of year. However, it has since been discovered that ''sol'' is equivalent to 'hearthcake' in several texts, and thus Bede is likely to have been correct in his definition.
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 ...
*
Shrovetide
Shrovetide, also known as the Pre-Lenten Season or Forelent, is the Christian period of preparation before the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent.
Shrovetide starts on Septuagesima Sunday, includes Sexagesima Sunday, Quinquagesima S ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solmonath
February
Old English