In most European languages the names of the months are based on the Roman calendar.
As a result they are easy to recognise and understand for speakers of any of those languages.
Take the month of February, for example:
- February (English)
- Februar (German)
- фебруар >>> Februar (Serbian)
- Februar (Bosnian)
- Février (French)
- Febbraio (Italian)
- Februari (Swedish)
- Φεβρουάριος >>> Februarios (Greek)
The months and their meanings in Croatian
In contrast to this, in Croatian the months originate from archaic Slavic words and phrases which poetically depict the changing of the seasons and the different tasks related to those seasons:
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How about other slavic languages?
Although the names of the months are similar in Polish and Czech, some of them represent different months! For example, in Czech and Polish listopad means November – rather than October in Croatian – perhaps because the leaves stay on the trees longer in those countries? 🙂
As illustrated in the example above, both Bosnian and Serbian use the Latin month names. This is one of the reasons why you’ll be generally understood in Croatia if you use these relatively ‘standard’ words.
Did you know?
In most languages the word for month originates from the word moon, since months originally corresponded to lunar phases. In Croatian the same word mjesec means both moon and month.
Some useful vocabulary when talking about months!
kalendar – calendar
mjesec – month
godina – year
prošli mjesec – last month
sljedeći mjesec – next month
svaki mjesec – each month
Language guide
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