Cheshwan
Cheschwan ( Hebrew חשון, short for Marcheschwan מרחשון) is the second month according to the “civil” Jewish calendar and the eighth month according to the “religious” calendar. The length of the month is normally 30 days; due to switching rules in reduced years only 29 days. Compared to the Gregorian calendar , the beginning of the month of Cheshwan fluctuates between mid-October and mid-November, which is related to the fact that the Jewish calendar is not a solar calendar like the Gregorian, but a lunisolar calendar . The 1st Cheschwan is the second day of the new moon ("roš chodeš").
“Marcheschwan” comes from the Akkadian (W) araḫ samnu and simply means “eighth month”, which indicates that at the time of the adoption of Akkadian month names in the Jewish tradition during the Babylonian exile , the old Judean calendar was still in use the beginning of the year is in the month of Nisan . In the tradition, “Mar” was misunderstood or reinterpreted as a prefix, so that the short form “Cheschwan” was created. “Mar”, the Hebrew word for “bitter”, was used to refer to the fact that there is no festival this month. This does not apply to the Ethiopian Jews , who celebrate the feast of the surrender of the Torah on Sinai on the 29th of the month .
In the Tanakh the term “(Mar) Cheschwan” does not appear, instead it speaks of the eighth month or “month of Bul” (e.g. 1 Kings 6:38 LUT ). The meaning of this name is unclear. Possible derivations refer to Belila / בלילה, the preparation of the fodder or Jevul / יבול, the crop yield.
References and footnotes
- ↑ A similar development affects the month names September , October , November and December , which no longer - as their names suggest - the 7th – 10th. Denote month, but due to the change in the beginning of the year the 9th – 12th Month.
