What are the months of the year called in your language?
Polish has mostly unique ones which are mostly not just taken from Latin:
January - styczeń - two conflicting etymologies here. One claims that it's from the word "tykać" which means touching - so the month is like a bridge between the old and new year. Another one claims that it's from an older name of the month - "sieczeń" - named such because trees were cut at that time of the year. They were cut down to produce poles (tyki), so "styczeń" could be derived from that.
February - luty - it's an Old Polish word which means something like "harsh". "Luty" would be the coldest month of the year, at least back then.
March - marzec - Latin borrowing, so not a native Slavic month name. The Old Polish name was "brzezień", from birches (brzoza) that bloomed then.
April - kwiecień - derived from the words "kwitnąć" (to bloom) and "kwiat" (flower) - because flora started to bloom at that time.
May - maj - another Latin borrowing. The Old Polish name was "trawień", from grass (trawa) that started to grow then.
June - czerwiec - it's the name of a bug that was a source of red dye. The Polish name of the color red "czerwony" derives from it.
July - lipiec - from linden trees (lipa) that bloomed during that time.
August - sierpień - it was harvest period and the crops were collected using a sickle (sierp)
September - wrzesień - from heathers (wrzos) that bloomed during that time.
October - październik - from shives (paździerz), which are are the wooden refuse removed during processing flax, hemp, or jute.
November - listopad - a combination of "liście" (leaves) and "opad" (fall). Named such because leaves fall during that time.
December - grudzień - from the word "gruda" (heap) - meaning frozen earth in this context. Earth was starting to freeze during that time, as winter begins.
Posted Jul 4, 2026, 6:28 PM UTC