Months in English. Names of the months in English: transcription, translation, exercises

19.10.2019

The words in English that are responsible for the names of the months largely coincide in written and spoken versions with similar words in Russian and many European languages. This fact is not at all surprising: all these countries use the Gregorian calendar as the basis for calculating the year by months. Therefore, learning how to write and how to pronounce months in English is not at all difficult, but there are some nuances that are difficult.

Historical knowledge about the origin of these words will help you understand how months are written in English. Then memorizing them in writing and in speech will become meaningful and easier.

History of names

These words are not purely English in origin, but have Latin roots. Here is the path to development of each month's name with a brief background, as seen in writing and in modern English.

January

[‘ʤænju(ə)ri]

The first winter month in England before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar was called "Wulf (wolf) Month" (now and henceforth - first written in Old English). This meant “wolf month”, because during this period in England, due to cold weather and lack of food in the forests, wolves came out to villages and began to attack livestock, even people. The name we have now comes from the name of the two-faced Janus, the Roman god of the beginning and the end.

February

[‘febru(ə)ri]

The second winter month in Britain was once called "Sprote Kale Month": this meant that cabbage (kale) began to sprout in the pantries. And in the ancient times of Rome, the month of February was a period of repentance, remission of sins, hence the origin of the name - in honor of the god of purification and remembrance of the dead, Februus.

March

The beginning of spring in the old English calendar was associated with strong winds, which is why this time was called “Hyld Month” - the month of winds. The Gregorian calendar system brought with it a word that arose from the god of war, Mars: March was for a long time in the Roman Empire the first month of the year, accordingly it was named after the main deity.

April

[‘eipr(ə)l]

April, in which, with the introduction of Christianity in Britain, the holy holiday of Easter was always celebrated, was previously called “Easter Month” (Easter - Easter). The emergence of a later name is the subject of many years of debate among linguists. Some argue that the word arose from the name of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Others are more inclined to the version that the ancestor of the word “April” in English was the Roman word “aperio”, meaning “to open, to bloom.” This option is more plausible, because it is in April that the leaves bloom on the trees and the first flowers appear in the meadows.

May

The wonderful month of May, when the meadows were covered with fresh grass, was called by the British in the old days “the month of triple milking” - “Thrimilce (three milk) Month”. The cows happily ate fresh grass after the boring winter hay and gave so much milk that they had to be milked three times a day. The Romans gave May the name in honor of the goddess Maia, who was highly revered by them as bringing fertility and prosperity.

June

June, due to the onset of droughts, was called in old England “Dere Month” (dere is the previous version of the word dry), that is, “dry month.” The Romans named this period in the calendar after Juno, the wife of Jupiter. The ancient goddess, patroness of marriages, was very loved by Roman women.

July

The British called the next summer month “Maed Month” (maed – modern meadow – meadow), “month of meadows”: flowers and herbs bloomed wildly in the pastures. The Romans based the name of July on the name of Emperor Julius Caesar, who was born in this month.

August

[‘ɔ:gəst]

“Weod Month” (weed - herbs, plants) - this is what August was called in old England, because the harvesting of hay for the winter began. The Romans chose the nickname of Emperor Octavian Augustus for the name of this month: “August” meant “divine.”

September

“Harvest Month” or “harvest month” is the old name for the first autumn month. The Roman version comes from the number “sept” (seven): since March was once the first in the Roman calendar, September was correspondingly the seventh.

October

[ɔk’təubə]

October, when they started making wine, the British called “Win (modern wine) Month” - “wine month”. The Roman version is also associated with a number, specifically with the eighth place of October according to the old calendar - “octo” in Latin.

November

November was once called “Blod (blood) Month”, translated as “bloody month”. In the pre-Christian period, it was a time of sacrifices (sometimes even human) to pagan gods. The Romans, again, did not think too much and gave November a name based on the serial number from the Latin word “novem” - nine.

December

Before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, the British called December “Halig (holy) Month”, that is, “holy month”: after all, Jesus Christ was born in December. The Romans again named the last month of the year by number, specifically “decem”, ten.

Seasons

From school lessons we know that the year consists of four seasons - seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn.

In Russian	In English	Transcription
Winter	Winter	[ˈwɪntər]
Spring	Spring	[ˈsprɪŋ]
Summer	Summer	[ˈsʌmə]
Autumn	Autumn (Fall)	[ˈɔːtəm] /

Spelling months in English, their use with prepositions

The first information important to remember is: The month in English is always written with a capital letter and is not placed in front of it..

September is the least favorite month for me: I always have vocation in August and have to begin working in September.
September is my least favorite month: I always have a vacation in August, and in September I have to start work.

If the month is mentioned in speech as an adverbial of time, then the preposition in is used.

If it is possible, I would like to have vocation in August: I am planning to go to Anapa, and the weather in August there is the best.
If possible, I would like to get a vacation in August: I am planning to go to Anapa, and the weather there is the best in August.

However, if and is called together with the month, then the preposition on (hereinafter referred to as the ordinal number) is placed before the number, and the preposition of is placed before the month.

My nephew Tim was born on the second of December.
My nephew Tim was born on the second of December.

In combination with the words every (each), last (last), each (each), this (this) prepositions are not used.

Last January, I remember very well, the weather was cloudy and muddy.
Last January, I remember very well, the weather was cloudy and slushy.

This April we did not have days-off at all: we had a very busy schedule.
This April we had no days off at all: we had a very busy schedule.

Writing and pronouncing dates with months

Abbreviations

Abbreviating the names of months in English in writing (if necessary) is done as follows:

May, June, July never abbreviated, always written as a whole word;

September reduced to four letters, looks like the short version – Sept. (dot required);

the remaining months are shortened to three letters and must be followed by a period. For example, Jan.- this is the short version of January.

How to quickly learn the names of the months

The simplest and most effective way is poetry, songs and associations.

For example, here is a short children's song about the months of the year - a great way to memorize words for both children and adults.

And after reading this poem, you will certainly not forget the names of the months in English.

January brings the snow, (January brings snow)
Makes our feet and fingers glow. (Feet and fingers burn from the cold)
February snows again
And sometimes it brings us rain. (And sometimes it rains)
March brings sunny days and winds (March gives sunny days and wind)
So we know that spring begins. (So we know that spring has begun.)
April brings the primrose sweet, (April brings sweet primroses,)
We see daisies at our feet. (We see daisies under our feet)
May brings flowers, joy and grass (May brings flowers, joy and herbs)
And the holidays for us. (And holidays for us.)
June brings tulips, lilies, roses. (June brings tulips, lilies, roses.)
Fills the children`s hands with poses. (Fills children's hands with bouquets.)
Hot July brings apples and cherries (Hot July gives apples and cherries)
And a lot of other berries. (And many other berries.)
August brings us golden corn, (August brings golden grains,)
Then the harvest home is borne. (Fills the bins with harvest.)
Warm September brings us school, (Warm September we go to school)
Days are shorter, nights are cool. (The days are shorter, the nights are colder.)
Fresh October brings much fruit (Fresh October brings a lot of fruit)
Then to gather them is good. (Which are so fun to collect.)
Red November brings us joy, (Red November brings us joy,)
Fun for every girl and boy. (Entertainment for every girl and boy)
Cold December brings us skating, (We go skating in Cold December)
For the New Year we are waiting. (And we are waiting for the New Year.)

P.S. You might be interested in reading about each month of the year.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Before you and I, dear readers, begin to talk about the names of months in English, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the word “month” in the plural has the form “months”, not “months”. Remember this please! “Months” (with an emphasis on “e”) is a form of the word in the genitive case, answering the questions “who?”, “what?”. It’s scary to see how many results Google gives when searching for “month of the year,” for example.

The topic all months in English is very entertaining and educational. We will tell you how the calendar appeared, what the 12 months are called in English, we will definitely look at how months are written in English and learn about their abbreviated forms.

History of calendars

The question of what a calendar is does not arise, right? But who invented it, why there are 365 days in a year, what do the Sun and Moon have to do with it, how did they manage to divide the year into months...

Actually, the Romans created their solar calendar based on the Greek lunar calendar. In those days there were 304 days in a year, divided into 10 months. True, then the first month of the year was not January, but March. Where did the rest of the days come from? One of the rulers of Rome, Numa Pompilius, decided to add another 2 months to reduce discrepancies in time and days. But even then, the 355-day calendar of lunar phases did not coincide with the solar year. And subsequently, to correct this discrepancy, another month was added every few years - Mercedonia. Can you imagine?!

Julius Caesar brought the calendar to a unified form, not without the help of astronomers. It was he who introduced the concept of a leap year with 366 days.

Of course, after this the calendar was changed and improved more than once, discrepancies in hours and actual dates and moon phases were corrected. And only Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 streamlined the calendar that we use to this day. We call it Gregorian.

Names of the months in English with transcription

Since the names of the months were formed in ancient times, they were based on the names of Roman gods, emperors, great people, just numbers, and holidays. Please immediately note that the names of the months, since they are proper names, are written with a capital letter.

In general, the word month - month in English, comes from the word moon - moon, month.

Let's finally look at the list of months in English and find out where they got such names from:

January – January[‘dʒænju(ə)ri]

The month is named after the two-faced Roman god of entrances and exits, as well as beginnings and ends. Initially, the month had 29 days, and then Caesar decided to add 2 more days. And so it turned out to be the 31st day of January.

February – February[‘febru(ə)ri]

This month has the same name as the Roman festival of cleansing from sins Februa.

March – March[mɑ:tʃ]

The “strongest” month is named after the Roman god of war, Mars – Martius, Mars.

April – April[‘eipr(ə)l]

The spring month was named after the Greek goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite - Aphrilis.

May – May[mei]

The last month of spring is named after Maius, the Greek goddess of fertility.

June – June[dʒu:n]

A wonderful summer day is patronized by the Roman goddess of marriage, and in general the protector of women, Juno - Juno.

July[dʒu'lai]

Whose name is the name of the month similar to? Of course, Julius Caesar! It was in this month that the great commander and politician was born, who decided to immortalize himself in this way. But previously July was simply called Quintilis, which meant “fifth.”

August – August[ˈɔːɡəst]

The ancient Roman politician and founder of the Roman Empire, Octavian Augustus, who completed the laborious work of correcting the calendar, also decided to leave a memory in the name of one of the months of the year.

September – September[sep’tembə]

Previously, the seventh month was called septem. We remember, yes, that the year began in March?!

October – October[ɔk’təubə]

This is, accordingly, the eighth month - octo. Apparently, the imagination of Roman and Greek figures has ended J

November – November[nəu’vembə]

The ninth month is novem.

December – December[di'sembə]

And the tenth, last month in the ancient calendar is decem.

Months in English with prepositions

There are only two prepositions that are used with months in English. This in And on: in January– in January, in February– in February, etc.

But when talking about the past or future, remember that in is issued: this March– this March, next Arpil– next April, last May- in the past Maya.

The difference in these prepositions is that in is tied more to the month itself than to the date. For example: My birthday is in November. – My birthday is in November.

But the preposition on forms an integer with a date, not with a month. For example: I will celebrate my birthday on November 13th. – I will celebrate my birthday on November 13th.

As you can see, everything is extremely simple!

Abbreviation of months in English

Why are abbreviations necessary and what is difficult about them? Nothing difficult, but short forms are very necessary. Most of all, probably, for official correspondence.

Just remember that months in English, even when abbreviated, are written with a capital letter. Eat!

Another nuance: names are shortened to just three letters. That is, Apr, Oct, Nov. June and July can be left unchanged and written in full. So you use the British version. And if you shorten the names to Jun and Jul, you get the American version. Although September is always shortened to four letters - Sept.

As for the dots at the end of the abbreviation, there is a division into British and American versions: put a dot - Amer., do not put a dot - Brit.

Now you know not only how October is written in English, but also how March is written in English and other months of the year. We hope to remember the abbreviated names of the months in English, which will be useful for writing business letters.

Hello, dear readers! Have you ever thought about how often you mention the seasons and talk about the weather? Whether it's communicating with colleagues, emails, talking on the phone - we do all this almost every day. We discuss what the weather is like outside today, talk about our favorite time of year, or say what time of year is our birthday. seasons

What if you are learning English or communicating on social networks with a British or American friend? What if at school or university you were asked to write an English essay on the topic “Seasons”? As you may have guessed, today we will talk about how to call the seasons in English, or as English speakers call them - seasons.

How to name months, days of the week and seasons in English is one of the most important topics that anyone who has started learning English must know. These are the basics that will help you communicate with native speakers when writing letters, messages, or when traveling abroad. In addition, knowing the seasons of the year in English is useful for general development.

First, let's list the seasons, write their pronunciation and translation:

winter ["wɪntə] - winter
spring - spring
summer ["sʌmə] - summer
autumn ["ɔːtəm] (in the UK) or fall in the USA - autumn

As you'll notice, Americans mean "autumn" differently than the British. They prefer to call this season "fall". Not to be confused with the action verb "to fall".

How to talk about seasons in English?

If you need to write an essay or simply talk about the seasons in English, then you should do it as follows:

First you need to list all the seasons, something like this: a year has four seasons - winter, spring, summer, autumn. Then you can tell what months are in each season. And after that, move on to a description of each season: weather phenomena, events in nature or in people’s lives.

These translation exercises will help you write essays and remember the topic.

Grammar

What grammar rules in English do you need to remember in order to correctly use the seasons in speech and writing?

You already know that in America they use “in the fall” instead of “in autumn”
The preposition “in” is used to denote seasons: in summer
Only in the combination “in the fall” is the article used; in all other cases it is not used with the seasons
The article is used only when it is implied or there is a clarifying definition: in the winter of 1953
In combinations of the nouns “winter, spring, summer, autumn” with the words “That, all, every, any, one, each, next, last, this” neither an article nor a preposition is used: this spring
And finally, only two seasons are used in the possessive case - autumn and spring: This autumn’s festival... but The festival this winter...

Just 6 simple rules.

It's pouring like buckets

This popular expression characterizing heavy autumn rain has been familiar to us since childhood. English also has such phraseological units. So they call a downpour with a cold strong wind the phrase “it is raining cats and dogs,” which translated means “rain of cats and dogs.” Why cats and dogs?

This English idiom comes from the past. People used to believe that witches turned into cats and, foreshadowing bad weather, flew under the clouds on brooms. And dogs, according to legend, were servants of Odin, the god of thunder, and personified the wind. Meeting together under the clouds, cats and dogs fell down with the rain and wind.

Another assumption was made by the famous writer Jonathan Swift, who used this expression in one of his works. Where it was described that the drainage system in cities of the 17th and 18th centuries could not withstand heavy rain, and the entire contents of the sewer spilled onto the street, including the corpses of cats, dogs and rats.

Today we will study the names of the months in English. Since there is a lot of information, I decided to break it down into the following sections. You can immediately move on to what interests you specifically.

Names of the months with translation, transcription and pronunciation.

English months by seasons.

The names of the months in Anglo-Saxon are given in brackets.

WintermonthsonEnglish: December (Ærra Gēola), January (Æfterra Gēola), February (Sol-mōnaþ)

SpringmonthsonEnglish: March (Hrēþ-mōnaþ), April (Easter-mōnaþ), May (Þrimilce-mōnaþ)

SummermonthsonEnglish: June (Ærra Līþa), July (Æftera Līþa), August (Weod-mōnaþ).

AutumnmonthsonEnglish: September (Hālig-mōnaþ), October (Winterfylleth), November (Blōt-mōnaþ)

Exercises to remember the months of the year in English.

Exercise 1. Match the transcriptions to the names of months.

4.[‘ʤænju(ə)rɪ]

6.[‘eɪpr(ɪ)l]

[‘febru(ə)rɪ]

Exercise 2. Guess which months are encrypted.

creDmeeb = December
Ailrp = _______________
nJeu = _______________
yMa = _______________
chraM = _______________
lyJu = _______________
metbreSpe = _______________
uugAts = _______________
aynuJra = _______________
removeNb = _______________
euFairbr = _______________
reOtcbo = _______________

Exercise 3. Write the months.

Exercise 4. Write about you and your family.

Exercise 5. Write what months are going by

after: May, November, February, March, June, December

to: April, January, July, March, February, May.

Exercise 6. Choose and read the names of winter, spring, summer and autumn months.

October, January, December, June, September, May, July, April, August, November, March, February

Exercise 7. True or false. Read aloud and translate the correct sentences. Correct and write down the incorrect ones.

There are twelve winter months in a year.
In Russia there are three summer months.
There are 30 days in August.
June comes after July.
In our country May is the first summer month.
There are twenty-eight days in January.
There are twenty-eight or twenty-nine days in February.
September is the coldest month of the year.
People celebrate Christmas in February.
Halloween is in December.

Poems and songs for memorizing English months with translation.

Let's start with poems in Russian using the names of the English months. These poems will help children remember the names of the months in English.

Winter months.

On the windows of houses and trolleybuses soon

December– December, will draw patterns.

January at the gate!

Fairy tale! Miracle! New Year!

A blizzard will sweep across the earth,

formidable February get angry.

Spring months.

Outside the window there are icicles crying.

March will begin soon - March

No more drops are heard

April started - April.

The time has come for May.

Warm May April replaces

Summer months.

So much sun! How much light!

June– June, welcome summer.

It's July outside the window - July.

Run, swim, sunbathe!

After July August comes.

We have a wonderful harvest in our garden!

Autumn months

The trees will put on a colorful outfit,

September He will seat the children at their desks.

Tearing leaves from a yellowed garden

October– October, the king of leaf fall

All the songbirds have long since flown away,

November– November, there’s a knock on our window.

And now poems about English months with translation.

Hey! Stand up when I say when your birthdays come!

January, February, March, April, May, June

July, August, September, October, November, December

Birthdays, birthdays, they are fun!

Everyone has fun when their birthdays come!

Birthdays, birthdays, they are fun

Everyone has fun when their birthday comes!

Hey! Get up when I call your birth month!

January, February, March, April, May, June,

July, August, September, October, November, December.

Birthdays, birthdays, they're fun!

Everyone has fun when a birthday comes!

January, February, March – that’s not so much!

April, May, June – that’s the tune!

July, August and September – we are cheerful and slender!

October, November, December- all these months you must remember!

January, February, March - that's not so much!

April, May, June - this is the motive!

July, August and September - we are cheerful and slim!

October, November, December - all these months you should remember!

Are there twelve months in the year? - Yes there are!

There are twelve months in the year! Here they are!

January, February, March, and April,

May, June, and July,

August, September, October, November,

After December they all have gone by.

There are twelve months in a year, right? - Yes!

There are twelve months in a year! Here they are!

January, February, March and April,

May, June and July,

August, September, October, November,

After December they all passed.

The history of the origin of the names of English months.

The names of the English months are of non-English origin. They come from the Latin names of the months of the Roman and later Julian calendars.

It is interesting to know that in the Roman calendar there were 10 months that had a name, and two winter months that did not even have names, meaning that no important agricultural work was carried out during this time. The year began with the month Martius (modern March - March). Numa Pompilius introduced the names of two winter months - Januarius (January) and Februarius (February) around 700 BC. e. He also moved the start of the year to January.

In 46 BC. e. Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar, giving rise to the Julian calendar. He changed the number of days in some months.

Let's move on to history of English month names.

January– month of Janus. Janus is the god of gates and doorways, depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. Initially, January had 29 days; under Julius Caesar, the month “lengthened” by 2 days.

February- the month of Februalia - the Roman holiday of cleansing from sins.

March- month of Mars. Mars is the god of war. It was in March, as I already wrote, that the year began, and with it new wars were often declared or old wars were renewed.

April- month of Aphrodite. Aphro is a shortened spelling of Aphrodite's name in Greek. Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and beauty. She is identified with the Roman goddess Venus.

May- month of Maya. Maia (meaning "great") is the goddess of spring, daughter of Faun and wife of Vulcan.

June- month of Juno. Juno is one of the supreme goddesses of the Roman pantheon. She is the goddess of marriage and the well-being of women. She is the wife and sister of Jupiter. She is identified with the Greek goddess Hera.

July- the month of Julius Caesar, although it originally received its name from the word quintilis, which means “fifth”. During the reformation of the calendar, Julius Caesar named the month in his honor.

August- the month of Octavian Augustus, who completed the calendar reform begun by Caesar, and, following his predecessor, named one of the months in his honor.

September- seventh month. Although in the modern calendar it is no longer the seventh, but earlier, when, as we remember, the year began in March, September was the seventh month and in Latin it sounded like “ september mensis".

October- eighth month. In Latin - “ october mensis”.

November- ninth month. In Latin – “Novembris mensis”.

December- tenth month. In Latin - “ Decembermensis”.

Set expressions with names of months.

The English language has many idioms with the names of months. Here are the most common and interesting of them. Idioms are given with an interpretation of the meaning.