Solmōnaþ

Solmōnaþ (modern English: dirt or mud month) was the Anglo-Saxon name for the month of February.[1]

The name was recorded by the Anglo-Saxon scholar 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”;[2] however, there is no other reference to sol meaning ‘cake’ in Old English. Sol is used to mean ‘mud’ or ‘dirt’ in most texts, and so a far more likely meaning is that the sol month was the muddy month, especially given the English climate at that time of year.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cockayne, Thomas. "The shrine: a collection of occasional papers on dry subjects" p.59
  2. ↑ Chapter XV, De mensibus Anglorum. "Sol-monath dici potest mensis placentarum, quas in eo diis suis offerebant.”
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