Months in Slavic Languages
When learning Ukrainian I learnt that in Ukrainian the names of the months are quite "strange" compared to any language I learnt before (which usually refer to the Roman Empire in some way or are related to Latin [1]). After some research I found out, that other Slavic languages also use "non-Roman" month names. For example, the name for "October" in Belarusian is "кастрычнік" which comes from the word "Кастра" which means "the woody parts of the stems of fibrous plants (flax, hemp, kenaf, etc.), discarded during their primary processing" (translated by Google Translator from https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кастра). Regarding Ukrainian, I found a page that describes where the month names come from: "Months of the year" in "Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine"
So I asked ChatGPT [2] to generate a table of the months and their translations to Slavic languages.
| English | Slovenian | Croatian | Bosnian | Serbian | Macedonian | Russian | Ukrainian | Belarusian | Slovakian | Czech | Polish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | januar | siječanj | januar | јануар (januar) | јануари (januari) | январь (yanvar') | січень (sichen') | студзень (studzen') | január | leden | styczeń |
| February | februar | veljača | februar | фебруар (februar) | февруари (fevruari) | февраль (fevral') | лютий (lyutyi) | люты (lyuty) | február | únor | luty |
| March | marec | ožujak | mart | март (mart) | март (mart) | март (mart) | березень (berezen') | сакавік (sakavik) | marec | březen | marzec |
| April | april | travanj | april | април (april) | април (april) | апрель (aprel') | квітень (kviten') | красавік (krasavik) | apríl | duben | kwiecień |
| May | maj | svibanj | maj | мај (maj) | мај (maj) | май (may) | травень (traven') | май (may) | máj | květen | maj |
| June | junij | lipanj | juni | јун (jun) | јуни (juni) | июнь (iyun') | червень (cherven') | чэрвень (cherven') | jún | červen | czerwiec |
| July | julij | srpanj | juli | јул (jul) | јули (juli) | июль (iyul') | липень (lypen') | ліпень (lipen') | júl | červenec | lipiec |
| August | avgust | kolovoz | august | август (avgust) | август (avgust) | август (avgust) | серпень (serpen') | жнівень (zhniven') | august | srpen | sierpień |
| September | september | rujan | septembar | септембар (septembar) | септември (septemvri) | сентябрь (sentyabr') | вересень (veresen') | верасень (verasen') | september | září | wrzesień |
| October | oktober | listopad | oktobar | октобар (oktobar) | октомври (oktomvri) | октябрь (oktyabr') | жовтень (zhovten') | кастрычнік (kastrichnik) | október | říjen | październik |
| November | november | studeni | novembar | новембар (novembar) | ноември (noemvri) | ноябрь (noyabr') | листопад (lystopad) | лістапад (listapad) | november | listopad | listopad |
| December | december | prosinac | decembar | децембар (decembar) | декември (dekemvri) | декабрь (dekabr') | грудень (hruden') | снежань (snezhan') | december | prosinec | grudzień |
- ↑ like "September": it derives from the Latin word for "seven": "septem" (because at this time it was the seventh month of the year)
- ↑ ChatGPT prompt: Please generate a table in Mediawiki syntax that contains the names of the months in English, Slovenian, Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Macedonian, Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Slowakian, Czech and Polish. The header of the table should contain the names of the languages.