Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “almanac” come from?

Almanac comes from Middle English almenak, from Old French almanach, from Medieval Latin almanachus, from Arabic مناخ (manākh), ultimately related to Arabic نُور (nūr) meaning light.

almanac (English): A book or table listing nautical, astronomical,...

Definitions

  1. A book or table listing nautical, astronomical,...

Ancestry of “almanac”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishalmenak—
2Dutchalmanakalmanac, book or table containing dates; almanac,...
3Middle Dutchalmanag—
4Latinalmanachuscalendar
5Andalusian Arabicالْمَنَاخcalendar; almanac, calendar
6Arabicمناخclimate
7Arabicوand, "comma", "semi-colon"; a divider of words or...
8PersianیاAPI •; or; either
9Arabicيَا{{m|en|O|id=vocative}}
Every word from Arabic يَا →