Finnish Month names

mikebrads · Post by **mikebrads** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 6:27 pm

This all started when i noticed that the literal translation for December was Christmas Month, and my limited knowledge of Finnish suggested that the other month names might also be as logical.

The ones which i am not totally sure of are March and December (my iffy dictionary lookups

).
And i could not find anything for April.

Code: Select all

Finnish	   English	   Literal translation
=========	==========	===================
Tammikuu     January	   oak month
Helmikuu     Febuary	   Pearl month
Maaliskuu    March	     ?? "Final straight" month (maalisuora)
Huhtikuu     April	     ?? 
Toukokuu     May	       sowing/"spring crop" month
Kesäkuu      June	      summer month
Heinäkuu     July	      Grass/hay month
Elokuu       August	    Corn month
Syyskuu      September	 Autum month (Syksy)
Lokakuu      October  	 Mud month
Marraskuu    November	  ?? Dead Month (maata martaana - lie dead)
Joulukuu     Demember	  XMas month

regards
mike

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Tom and Jerry · Post by **Tom and Jerry** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 6:55 pm

you may find a lot when looking for these in an etymological dictionary, or in a dictionary of the Kalevala words.
huthikuu - washing water?

eashton · Post by **eashton** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 10:16 pm

My husband got out the etymological dictionary for the more obscure ones...

Tammikuu - hardwood/heartwood/axel month ...means the middle of the winter

Maaliskuu - likely from Mahla, tree sap. Sap month, watch out Hallmark, Inc. and P.T. Barnum. :)

Huhtikuu - Huhta...this is hard to explain. This is the month where you went and cut down the trees, the huhta, that grew in the area you planned to cultivate. You left them there to dry until summer and then burned them which would then fertilize the field.

Elokuu - Corn? They ain't go no corn up here son :) Harvest month

Tom and Jerry · Post by **Tom and Jerry** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 10:25 pm

eashton wrote:
Elokuu - Corn? They ain't go no corn up here son Harvest month

Corn is cereals in some areas, in USA corn is maize.
Barley, rye, oats, wheat. All four grown in Finland.

eashton · Post by **eashton** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 12:26 am

Tom and Jerry wrote: Corn is cereals in some areas, in USA corn is maize.
Barley, rye, oats, wheat. All four grown in Finland.

Only the Native Americans call corn 'maize' in the US. :)

Niall Shaky · Post by **Niall Shaky** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 6:59 am

Tom and Jerry wrote:
eashton wrote:
Elokuu - Corn? They ain't go no corn up here son Harvest month
Corn is cereals in some areas, in USA corn is maize.
Barley, rye, oats, wheat. All four grown in Finland.

Noooo corn is maize or a small sore on your foot requiring a small round plaster.

Slothrop · Post by **Slothrop** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 12:12 am

The pedunculate and sessile oaks are the only Northern European deciduous tree not to shed their leaves, so I am told. They die, but remain on the tree. I have heard it argued that "tammikuu" derives from the fact that the oaks - not that there's many of them about, save down sarf - were the only trees to have "leaves" at this time of year. This is of course only one theory among many. There at least three meanings for "tammi" besides the tree, though the game is unlikely to have been accorded a month.

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 9:39 am

Tammikuu Oak Month

Originally meaning in-between month, as tammikuu splits the winter in half. Tammi-and helmikuu were called isotammi and pikkutammi (big oak & small oak). In the old calendars the height of winter was 13 or 14.1, hence the name 'heart month'.

Helmikuu Peral Month
The snow and icepicks glisten as pearls. In same areas this phenomenon was called 'grouse eyes'. In old lunar calendars the 13th, 'foam month' could also be here.

Maaliskuu Earth month
In maaliskuu the snow starts to melt so that bare ground starts to show.

Huhtikuu Burnwood month
The wood for beat&burn farming clearings were felled

Toukukuu Sowing month

Kesäkuu Plowing month
In old Finnish kesä means plowing and suvi summer. Kesäkuu in someplaces was called kyntökuu.

Heinäkuu Hay month
Making of hay.

Elokuu Harvest month
Old names also 9include kylökuu, old name for winter-barley being sown and mätäkuu - rotten month as wounds won't heal and fish and meat spoil easy.

Syyskuu
Autumn month.

Lokakuu
Sludge month

In lokakuu yards and roads are full of sludge. Also called ruojakuu - misery month that depicts how people feel.

Marraskuu Dead month
All nature lies dead. In older calendars the change of the year was in marraskuu.

Joulukuu Yule month
In joulukuu Yule was celebrated. In older calendars this was called also talvikuu - winter month.

Tom and Jerry · Post by **Tom and Jerry** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 11:09 am

WLM wrote:The pedunculate and sessile oaks are the only Northern European deciduous tree not to shed their leaves, so I am told. They die, but remain on the tree. I have heard it argued that "tammikuu" derives from the fact that the oaks - not that there's many of them about, save down sarf - were the only trees to have "leaves" at this time of year. This is of course only one theory among many. There at least three meanings for "tammi" besides the tree, though the game is unlikely to have been accorded a month.

The calander changed a bit. Was it before 1520 when January was in the present November.
Climate also changes. Around the year 1000 it was warmer in the Baltics and there may have been vast oak forests in Finland. Where does the name Tammisaari come from?
What do they sow in the second verse of the Kalevala? Isn't it oak?

There are several oak forests in Lohja. One is exactly at the crossing of the highway to Turku and the Hanko-Hyvinkää road.

Tom and Jerry · Post by **Tom and Jerry** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 11:11 am

toukokuu - sowing
kesäkuu - plowing

First sow, then plow? That's only possible when applying the EU regulations.

Is it another name like harrod or cultivating. ??

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 12:30 pm

It is different things you sow at different times. IIRC the fields that were left barren need to be ploughed over at one time. kesä-kesanto

"Lounaismurteissa esiintyy vanhojen virolaiskontaktien jälkenä esim. sellaisia sanoja kuin kesä merkityksessä ’kesanto’"

Slothrop · Post by **Slothrop** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 1:48 pm

Elokuu Harvest month
Old names also 9include kylökuu, old name for winter-barley being sown and mätäkuu - rotten month as wounds won't heal and fish and meat spoil easy.

Mätäkuu is of course a term still in common use. The nearest translation would be "the silly season", that time of year (basically July to early August) when nothing of any significance is happening on the political or economic front, so an overweight ex-boxer can be sure of securing tabloid headlines on a daily basis while comatose in a Helsinki hospital, or stories of a runaway lion in Ruokolahti can be sure to grip the nation.

That bison that escaped last week was seasonally-challenged.

I just noticed that this is my 1000th post, and considering the context, it was probably a very suitable one.

Spectra · Post by **Spectra** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 5:25 pm

So tell me more about mätäkuu and why it's kinda looked upon as an 'unsanitary' month. I once heard that some doctors even discourage surgery during this month since supposedly 'wounds don't heal' then!

I had never heard of this 'pus month' (

) before coming to Finland from nearly seasonless N. California. Is August that sort of month elsewhere in the world as well?

-spectra

p19 · Post by **p19** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 5:30 pm

And what about mitäkuu?

Lau · Post by **Lau** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:18 am

[quote="Slothrop"]Elokuu Harvest month
Old names also 9include kylökuu, old name for winter-barley being sown and mätäkuu - rotten month as wounds won't heal and fish and meat spoil easy.

I remember my Finnish teacher saying that "Elokuu" is the month of life...
and she said Elo is also a name/surname

Can't remember anymore...

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