Editing Hebrew calendar (section)

===Month names===
[[File:Hebrew Calendar (Luach).jpg|thumb|Calendar for the year 1840/41. Printed by I. Lehrberger u. Comp., [[Rödelheim]]. In the collection of the [[Jewish Museum of Switzerland]].]]
Biblical references to the [[Babylonian captivity|pre-exilic]] calendar include ten of the twelve months identified by number rather than by name.

Prior to the [[Babylonian captivity]], the names of only four months are referred to in the [[Tanakh]]: ''[[Aviv]]'' (first month),<ref>{{bibleverse||Exodus|12:2|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Exodus|13:4|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Exodus|23:15|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Exodus|34:18|HE}}, {{bibleverse||Deut.|16:1|HE}}</ref> ''[[Iyar|Ziv]]'' (second month),<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Kings|6:1|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|1|Kings|6:37|HE}}</ref> ''[[Ethanim]]'' (seventh month),<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Kings|8:2|HE}}</ref> and ''[[Cheshvan|Bul]]'' (eighth month).<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Kings|6:38|HE}}</ref> All of these are believed to be [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite names]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hachlili|first=Rachel|title=Ancient Synagogues – Archaeology and Art: New Discoveries and Current Research|date=2013|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-9004257733|page=342|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRjhAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA342}}</ref> The last three of these names are only mentioned in connection with the building of the [[First Temple]] and Håkan Ulfgard suggests that the use of what are rarely used Canaanite (or in the case of Ethanim perhaps [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest Semitic]]) names indicates that "the author is consciously utilizing an archaizing terminology, thus giving the impression of an ancient story...".<ref>{{cite book|last=Ulfgard|first=Håkan|title=The Story of Sukkot : the Setting, Shaping and Sequel of the biblical Feast of Tabernacles|date=1998|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|isbn=3-16-147017-6|page=99|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxnXaYBj2wgC&pg=PA99}}</ref> Alternatively, these names may be attributed to the presence of Phoenician scribes in Solomon's court at the time of the building of the Temple.<ref>Seth L. Sanders, “Writing and Early Iron Age Israel: Before National Scripts, Beyond Nations and States,” in ''Literate Culture and Tenth-Century Canaan: The Tel Zayit Abecedary in Context'', ed. Ron E. Tappy and P. Kyle McCarter, (Winona Lake, IN, 2008), p. 101–102</ref>

During the Babylonian captivity, the Jewish people adopted the Babylonian names for the months. The [[Babylonian calendar]] descended directly from the Sumerian calendar.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ehebrew.org/articles/hebrew-calendar.php |title=Hebrew Calendar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190721072923/http://www.ehebrew.org/articles/hebrew-calendar.php#.XTQUVo77SUk |archive-date=21 July 2019}}</ref> These Babylonian month-names (such as Nisan, Iyyar, Tammuz, Ab, Elul, Tishri and Adar) are shared with the modern [[Arabic names of Gregorian months#Syrian Calendar in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan|Levantine solar calendar]] (currently used in the [[Arabic]]-speaking countries of the [[Fertile Crescent]]) and the modern [[Assyrian calendar]], indicating a common origin.<ref name="DeVaux"/> The origin is thought to be the Babylonian calendar.<ref name="DeVaux"/>

{| class="wikitable"
|+Hebrew names of the months with their Babylonian analogs
! # 
! Hebrew
! [[Tiberian vocalization|Tiberian]]
! [[Academy of the Hebrew Language|Academy]]
! Common/<br>Other
! Length
! Babylonian analog
! Holidays/<br>Notable days
! Notes
|-
|  1 || style="text-align:right;" | {{Script/Hebrew|נִיסָן}} || Nīsān || [[Nisan]] || Nissan || {{nowrap|30 days}} || ''Nisanu'' || [[Passover]] || Called ''Abib''<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse||Exodus|13:4|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Exodus|23:15|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Exodus|34:18|HE}}, {{bibleverse||Deut.|16:1|HE}}</ref> and Nisan<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse||Esther|3:7|HE}}</ref> in the [[Tanakh]].
|-
|  2 || style="text-align:right;" | {{Script/Hebrew|אִיָּר / אִייָר}} || ʼIyyār || Iyyar || [[Iyar]] || 29 days || ''Ayaru'' || [[Pesach Sheni]]<br />[[Lag B'Omer]] || Called ''Ziv''<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse|1|Kings|6:1|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|1|Kings|6:37|HE}}</ref>
|-
|  3 || style="text-align:right;" | {{Script/Hebrew|סִיוָן / סיוון}} || Sīwān || [[Sivan]] || Siwan || 30 days || ''Simanu'' || [[Shavuot]] || 
|-
|  4 || style="text-align:right;" | {{Script/Hebrew|תַּמּוּז }}|| Tammūz || [[Tammuz (Hebrew month)|Tammuz]] || Tamuz || 29 days || ''Dumuzu'' || [[Seventeenth of Tammuz]] || Named for the Babylonian god [[Tammuz (deity)|Dumuzi]]
|-
|  5 || style="text-align:right;" | {{Script/Hebrew|אָב }}|| ʼĀḇ || [[Av (month)|Av]] || Ab || 30 days || ''Abu'' || [[Tisha B'Av]]<br />[[Tu B'Av]] || 
|-
|  6 || style="text-align:right;" |{{Script/Hebrew| אֱלוּל }}|| ʼĔlūl || [[Elul]] ||  || 29 days || ''Ululu'' || ||
|-
|  7 || style="text-align:right;" |{{Script/Hebrew| תִּשְׁרֵי / תִּשְׁרִי}} || Tišrī || Tishri || [[Tishrei]] || 30 days || ''Tashritu'' || {{nowrap|[[Rosh Hashanah]]}}<br />[[Yom Kippur]]<br />[[Sukkot]]<br />[[Shemini Atzeret]]<br />[[Simchat Torah]] || Called ''Ethanim'' in Kings 8:2.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse|1|Kings|8:2|HE}}</ref> <br> First month of civil year. 
|-
|  8 || style="text-align:right;" |{{Script/Hebrew| מַרְחֶשְׁוָן /  מרחשוון }}|| Marḥešwān || Marẖeshvan || Marcheshvan <br>[[Cheshvan]] <br> Marẖeshwan || 29 or <br> 30 days || ''Arakhsamna'' ||  || Called ''Bul'' in Kings 6:38.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse|1|Kings|6:38|HE}}</ref>
|-
|  9 || style="text-align:right;" |{{Script/Hebrew| כִּסְלֵו / כסליו}}|| Kislēw || [[Kislev]] || Kislev <br> Chisleu <br> Chislev || 29 or <br> 30 days || ''Kislimu'' || [[Hanukkah]] ||
|-
| 10 || style="text-align:right;" |{{Script/Hebrew| טֵבֵת }}|| Ṭēḇēṯ || [[Tevet]] || Tebeth || 29 days || ''Tebetu'' || [[Tenth of Tevet]] ||
|-
| 11 || style="text-align:right;" |{{Script/Hebrew| שְׁבָט }}|| Šəḇāṭ || [[Shvat]] || Shevat <br> Shebat <br> Sebat || 30 days || ''Shabatu'' || [[Tu Bishvat]] ||
|-
| 12L<sup>*</sup> || style="text-align:right;" |{{Script/Hebrew| אֲדָר א׳ }}|| || Adar I<sup>*</sup> ||  || 30 days ||  || || rowspan="2"|<sup>*</sup>Only in Leap years.
|-
| 12 || style="text-align:right;" |{{nowrap|{{Script/Hebrew| אֲדָר / אֲדָר ב׳* }}}}|| ʼĂḏār || {{nowrap|[[Adar]] / Adar II<sup>*</sup>}} ||  || 29 days || ''Adaru'' || [[Purim]]
|}