The Romanian calendar is the Gregorian calendar, adopted in 1919. However, the traditional Romanian calendar has its own names for the months. In modern Romania and Moldova, the Gregorian calendar is exclusively used for business and government transactions and predominates in popular use as well. Nevertheless, the traditional names of the months do appear in some contexts, for instance on ecclesiastical calendars produced by the Romanian Orthodox Church.
History Romania adopted the Gregorian calendar on 1 April 1919, which became 14 April 1919. In 2019, the National Bank of Romania released a commemorative coin of 10 silver lei to celebrate the centenary of Romania's adoption of the calendar.
Traditional month names Most of the traditional names of the months are of Latin origin, which indicates that their use predates the Slavic contact around the 8th century. Essentially all are constructed as agent nouns, most often with the suffix , inherited from Latin . As in Latin, the months are expressed using genitive constructions, i.e.: (literally: ).
Note that the use of as opposed to indicates that the months are analysed as animate.
Month Usual Romanian name Traditional Romanian name Etymology January , is derived from ; as winter reaches its depth during this month. is inherited from Latin . February , is inherited from Latin , though folk etymology connects it to unrelated , whence the variant (which also means ) arose. March , , is inherited from Latin , and originates as a derivative using the diminutive suffix that largely supplanted the former. It is unclear whether is a creation of the poet Vasile Alecsandri or a genuine folk term; in any case, it is derived from . April , , is inherited from Latin ; folk etymology connects it with , hence the variant . derives from , and is more frequently applied to March. May , , See above for . derives from . derives from , and since this word was a late borrowing in Romanian, it is likely the most recent of the folk names. June From . July From , as it is often the hottest month. August , , , is inherited from Latin . Folk etymology connected it with , as fruit become ready for picking during this period, hence . is likely derived from a lost term inherited from Latin . is derived from . September ; , is inherited from Latin , likely reinterpreted as collecting crops in a harvest. is derived from a lost noun related to Latin . has an uncertain etymology, but appears to be influenced by the former, and possibly by Church Slavonic . Rarely, designates November instead of September. October , is derived from . is derived from the same word with a diminutive suffix. generally designates October, and generally designates November, though there is considerable disagreement on this. November , , , , For , , and , see above. appears to be derived from , though the semantic development is unclear. is derived from (also meaning ), and its use is mainly restricted to Moldavia. December , , derives from . derives from . is the inherited Romanian form of the name Andrew, from Latin , as Saint Andrew's feast day, November 30, ushers in this month.
See also Gregorian calendar Slavic calendar Lithuanian calendar French Republican calendar
References
Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică "Iorgu Iordan", Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998