Ġēolamonaþ

Ġēolamōnaþ or Ȝēolamōnaþ (modern English: Yule month) was the Anglo-Saxon name for the month of both December and January.[1] The Anglo-Saxon scholar Bede explains in his treatise De temporum ratione (The Reckoning of Time) that the entire winter solstice period was known as Ġēola.[2] Later on, December became known as Ǣrra-ġēolamōnaþ and January became known as Æfterra-ġēolamōnaþ, as this later Old English passage points out:

Se mōnaþ is nemned on Leden Decembris, and on ūre geþeōde se ǣrra geōla, forðan ða mōnþas twegen syndon nemde ānum naman, ōðer se ǣrra geōla, óðer se æftera.[3]

Which translates:

The month is called in Latin December, and in our language geōla for two months enjoy the same name; the first one Se Ǣrra Geola [The Preceding Yule] and the other Se Æftera [The Following].

See also

References
  1. Cockayne, Thomas. "The shrine: a collection of occasional papers on dry subjects" p.151
  2. Chapter XV, De mensibus Anglorum. “Lida dicitur blandus, sive navigabilis, quod in utroque mense et blanda sit serenitas aurarum, et navigari soleant aequora.”
  3. Bosworth, Joseph. "An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online." Geóla. March 21, 2010. Accessed September 20, 2014. http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/015475.
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