The Year in Scots

days

months

seasons

hairst

Seturday

Scots speakers, like other European peoples, draw from a common European heritage when it comes to names for seasons and months of the year, but, like other groups, forms of names have developed under circumstances peculiar to Scotland and the Scottish accent. The calendar year in Scots runs from January to December but if we wish to speak about any period of a year we call this in Scots a ‘twalmonth’: therefore the period July 2007 to June 2008 is a ‘twalmonth’ in Scots. The present calendar year was the result of changes taking place during the 16th century when most European countries began to adopt a new year beginning in January, rather than March, and King James VI decreed in 1599 that Scotland would follow suit. On 1 January 1600 Scotland adopted the present day calendar (England, Ireland and Wales did not follow until 1752).

The Scots ‘twalmonth’ may be followed and subdivided according to the seasons of the year, beginning, of course, with spring, which is called ‘ware’ in Scots. In the following list the Scots forms are followed in brackets by the French, German and Norwegian forms by way of comparison.

WARE (printemps, frühling, vår)
Scots derives its name for spring from Old Norse. Spring is divided in Scots into three months as follows;

MAIRCH (Mars, Märs, Mars) March derives its name from Mars the Roman god of war whose name was also, of course, used to name a planet (traditionally pronounced and written as ‘Mairs/Mers’ in Scots).

APRILE (Avril, April, April) The Scots pronunciation of this month rhymes on the last syllable with ‘style’ hence the traditional ‘e’ spelling.

MEY (Mai, Mai, Mai) This month is named after the wife of the Roman god Vulcan. The Scots pronunciation of this month is consistent in rhyming with other related words in Scots, such as ‘pey’ (pay), ‘stey’ (stay) and ‘bey’ (bay).

SIMMER (été, sommer, sommer)
This name appears to derive from an Indo-European word meaning ‘half year’. Scots and Frisian have the same spelling for this month which differs from the English in pronunciation, as English differs from other Germanic languages. Summer is divided into the following months:

JUIN (Juin, Juni, Juni) Named for the Roman goddess Juno. This may be pronounced in Scots either the same as in English or as ‘Jin’, hence the Scots spelling ‘ui’ which allows either sound. In North East Scotland the traditional pronunciation is ‘Jeen’.

JOOLY or JULY (Juillet, Juli, Juli) This month was named in honour of the Roman leader Julius Caesar. This month may either be pronounced in Scots as it is in English or as ‘Jooly’, depending on regional variation.

AUGUST (Août, August, August) This month was named in honour of the Roman Emperor Augustus and subsequently adopted by most European languages.

HAIRST (automne, herbst, høst) All Germanic languages, with the exception of English, know autumn by variants of the word ‘harvest’ which was traditionally the season crops were gathered in. Autumn is divided in Scots into:

SEPTEMBER (Septembre, September, September). September derives from the Latin for ‘seven’ because in the old calendar it was the seventh month of the year which formerly began in March.

OCTOBER (Octobre, Oktober, Oktober) October is derived from the Latin for ‘eight’ because in the old calendar it was the eighth month of the year which formerly began in March.

NOVEMBER (Novembre, November, November) November is derived from the Latin for ‘nine’ because in the old calendar it was the ninth month of the year which formerly began in March.

WINTER or WUNTER (hiver, winter, vinter) This name appears to derive from an Indo-European word meaning ‘to be wet’. Though traditionally written in Scots as ‘winter’, in modern times the spelling ‘wunter’ has appeared and reflects a common pronunciation. Winter is divided in Scots into the following months:

DEZEMBER (Décembre, Dezember, Desember) December is derived from the Latin for ‘ten’ because it was the tenth month of the year which formerly began in March. Through the centuries this month has had a variety of spellings reflecting regional variations in Scots, including ‘Discembar’. The spelling ‘Dezember’ (in common with German) reflects the modern pronunciation in Scots which elides the sound ‘e’ and sounds like ‘D’zember’.

JANUAR (Janvier, Januar, Januar) Named in honour of the Roman god Janus. In common with some other European languages Scots does not end a set of words with ‘-ary’ (as English does) but rather with ‘-ar’, hence the form ‘Januar’. This rule also gives us forms such as ‘laborator’, ‘necessar’, ‘vocabular’ etc in Scots (though there are exceptions such as 'leebrary' and 'leeterary').

FEBRUAR (Février, Februar, Februar) This month derives from the Roman purification ceremony ‘februārius’. Like ‘Januar’, this month follows a consistent rule of pronunciation in the Scots language.


THE DAYS OF THE WEEK
Over the centuries the names for days for the week have been spelled a variety of ways in Scots reflecting regional and other influences. In modern Scots the days of the week are partly like English and partly peculiar to Scots as follows:

SUNDAY (Dimanche, Sonntag, Søntag) This name is derived from a German translation of the Latin ‘day of sun’. In Older Scots it had the forms ‘Sounday’ and ‘Sonda’.

MONANDAY (Lundi, Montag, Mandag) This name is derived from a German translation of the Latin ‘day of the moon’. In Older Scots it had the forms ‘Monounday’, ‘Manounday’, ‘Munonday’ etc. It is pronounced in Scots with an extra syllable not present in English.

TUESDAY (Mardi, Dienstag, Tirsdag) This name is derived from an old Germanic god ‘Tiwaz’ (or Tyr) who was equated with the Roman Mars. So Tuesday means ‘day of the god Tiwaz’. In Older Scots we find the form ‘Tysday’ and in Early Modern Scots ‘Teisday’.

WADENSDAY (Mercredi, Mittwoch, Onsdag) This name is derived from the Germanic ‘day of the god Woden’ (equated in Latin with Mercury). In Older Scots it took the form ‘Wodenisday’ and later ‘Weddinsday’ and ‘Wadnesday’. It is pronounced in Scots with an extra syllable not present in English.

THURSDAY (Jeudi, Donnerstag, Torsdag) This name is derived from the Germanic ‘day of the god Thor’ (the thunderer who was equated with Latin Jupiter). In Older Scots it took the forms ‘Fuirsday’ and ‘Forsday’ and in North East Scotland today is ‘Feersday’.

FRIDAY (Vendredi, Freitag, Fredag) This name derives from the Germanic ‘day of the goddess Frigg’ who was the wife of Woden (and equated in Latin with Venus). In Older Scots it took the forms ‘Fredday’, ‘Fryday’ and ‘Frayday’.

SETURDAY (Samedi, Sonnabend, Lørdag) This is a Germanic translation of the Latin ‘day of the god Saturn’. In Older Scots we find the form ‘Saturnsday’.