Prior to the exile the individual months were usual- ly designated by numbers (the twelfth month occurs in 2 Kings xxv, 27; Jer. Iii, 31 ; Ezek. sxix, 1 ; comp. 1 Kings iv, 7) ; yet we find also the following names : Ear-month (2'^2Xn ^"IH, Exod. xiii, 4 ; xxiii, 15; Deut. xvi, 1, etc.), corresponding to the later Nisan; Bloom-month (IT [or T^T] ^"tH, 1 Kings vi, 1, 37), the second month; Rain- month (b^S ITl];!, vi, 38), the eighth (connected by Benfey, p. 182, with the word ba, b^'3 ; see the Talmudic interpretation cited by hin^, p. 16) ; Freshet-month (DiJrxri nn.'', viii, 2), the seventh ; all of which seem to be mece appellatives (see Benfey and Stern, Ueber die Monatsnamen einiger alt en Volker [ Berl. 1836],- p. 2). After the exile the months received the following names (Gemara, Pesach. xciv, 2 ; Targ. Sheiti on Esth. iii, 7 sq. ; comp. ]\Iishna, Shekal. iii, 1) : 1. Nisan ("O"'?, Neh. ii, 1 ; Esth. iii, 7), the first month, in which the Passover (q.v.) was held (and in which the vernal equinox fell, Josephus, /I »/. iii, 10,5), corresponding, in general, to our April (Ideler, Chronol.i, 491), and answering (Josephus, Ant. iii, 10, 5; War, v, 3, 1) to the Macedonico-Syrian Xanthicvt',n\iio (Ant. ii, 14, 6) to the Egyptian month Pharmuihi, which last, however, was March 27-April 25 of the Julian calen- dar (Ideler, ut sup. i, 143); 2. lydr (1*X, Targ. on 2 Chron. XXX, 2); 3. Sivdn ("I'^D, Esth. viii, 9; SfiowaX, Bar. i, 8); 4. Tammuz (tiiari); .5. Ab (Iii); 6. Elul (blbx, Neh. vi, 15; 'EXoirX, 1 Mace, xiv, 27), the last month of the civil year in the post-exilian age (Mish- na, Shebiith, x, 2; Erubin, iii, 7) ; 7. Tishri ('^'^'w'P), in which the festivals of Atonement and Tabernacles fell
TIME
412
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(also the autumnal equinox) ; 8. Marcheshvan (11t'n"i"2, MaiToiiai' or Mapo-oudj'?;, Josephus, Ant. i, 3, o); 9, Kislvr (1^03, Neh. i. 1 ; Zech. vii, 1 ; XaaXiii, 1 JNIacc. i, 5-1); 10. febith (P^^, Esth. ii, IG) ; 11. Shebat (w^'j, Zech. i. 7; Sn/3rtr, 1 Mace, xvi, 14); 12. Addr ("i^X, Ksth. iii,7; viii, 12; 'Atap, 2 Mace. xv,37); 13. Ve-Adar ("nxi; stricth' Va-Adur,^'^)<y),ot second Adar (T1X "O'j i)r nxira). Occasionally, however, the months were newly numbered in the post-exilian period like- wise (Hag. i, 1 ; ii, 1 sq. ; Zech. i, 1; viii, 19; Nell, vii, 73; viii, 3, 14; Dan. x, 4; 1 Mace, ix, 3, 54 ; x, 21 ; xiii, 51). On tlie origin and signification of those names, see Benfey, op. cit. p. 24 sq. ; Gcsenius, Thesaur. p. 702, 947. From the fact that the second book of Maccabees and Josephus reckon according to the Syro-Macedonian months (^l)ioscuriis, Xdnthlcus, etc.) it does not follow that the Jews adopted this calendar in the Seleucid sera. In 2 Mace, the Egyptian months {Epiphi, Pachon) are named. See Pott," in the Hull. Lit.-Zeil. 1839, No. 46- 50 ; Carpzov, Appar. p. 356 sq. ; Michaelis, Comment. 1763-G8, Ohlat. p. 16 sq.; Langhausen, De Mense Vett. Jhhr. Liinari (Jen. 1713; also in Ugolino, Thesaur. xvii) ; Ideler, Chronol. i, 448 sq., 509 si^. See Month.
3. Week (^'^2-, lit. serened). This division of the synodal lunar montli into seven days (whence the Heb. name) early prevailed among the Israelites, as among other Sliemitic people and the Egyptians (Ideler, C/u-o- iiol. i, 178; ii, 473); but only among the Israelites was this arrangement associated with cosmogony, with law, and with religion itself, so as to enter into real civil life and form the basis of the whole cycle of festivals. See Sabbath. But ordinarily, days rather than weeks (as also among the Greeks and Romans) constituted the conventional mode of coinputing time (but see Lev. xii, 5; Dan. x, 2 sq.). In the post-exilian period the reck- oning by weeks became more customary, and at length special names for particular week-days came into use, enumerated after the formula tv /aa, or 7rp<i')r(>j crajS- /Srirwi^ or actfiiSarov, etc. (Mark xvi, 2, 9; Luke xxiv, 1; Acts XX, 7; 1 Cor. xvi, 2; see Epiphan. I/ier. Ixx, 12; so also in Chald. with Nns;^ or NPST^ ; see Otho, Lex. Rcibh. p. 273. The word kj3Snfidg does not occur in the New Test.; see also Ideler, Chronol. i, 481). The astronomical derivation of the week naturally grows out of the obvious fact {Chronol. i, 60) that the moon changes about every seven (properly seven and three eighths) days, so that the lunar month divides itself into four quarters. Hence nations which have no historical relation in this respect nevertheless agree in the obser- vance ( Chronol. i, 88 ). The days of the week were named long before the Christian ajra on regular astro- logical principles from the seven planets (Lobeck,.4/y/aw- pham. p. 933 sq.), which (according to Dion Cass, xxxvii, 18) was an Egyptian invention. Thej- began with Sat- urn's day (Saturday), inasmuch as Saturn was the outer- most planet ; but among the Jews this day (the Sal)- bath) was the last of the week, and so the Jewisli (and Christian) week commences with Sunday. But these heathenish names were never in general use among the Jews (see \i\x\\r, Symhol.n, 585 sq.). Weeks or heptads of years belong, among the Jews, to prophetical poetry; l)ut in one instance they occur in a literal sense in prose (Dan. vii, 24-27), as also among the Romans such an- norum hehdomades were known (Gell. iii, 10; Censorin. f)e Die Xat. xiv). Sec Wkkk.