Etymology Dictionary

ALMANAC, ALMANACK,   a calendar.  (F.,—Gk.)   Spelt almanac in Blackstone, Comment. b. iii. c. 22; almanack by Fuller, Worthies of Northamptonshire.—F. almanach, 'an almanack, or prognostication;' Cot.—Low Lat. almanachus, cited by Brachet.—Gk. ἀλμεναχά, used in the 3rd century by Eusebius for 'an almanac;' see his De Præparatione Evangelica, iii. 4. ed. Gaisford.   ¶ This Gk. word looks like Arabic, but Dozy decides otherwise; see his Glossaire des Mots Espagnols dérivés des l'Arabe, 2nd ed. p. 154.   1. Mr. Wedgwood cites a passage from Roger Bacon, Opus Tertium, p. 36, shewing that the name was given to a collection of tables shewing the movements of the heavenly bodies; 'sed hæ tabulæ vocantur Almanach vel Tallignum, in quibus sunt omnes motus cœlorum certificati a principio mundi usque in finem.'   2. In Webster's Dictionary it is said that the Arabic word manakh occurs in Pedro de Alcalá (it is not expressly said in what sense, but apparently in that of almanac); and it is connected with 'Arab. manaha, to give as a present, Heb. mánáh, to assign, count; Arab. manay, to define, determine, maná, measure, time, fate; maníyat, pl. manáyá, anything definite in time and manner, fate.'   This is not satisfactory. [†]

ADDENDA

I unfortunately took the Gk. form ἀλμεναχά from Brachet, who is mistaken.   The Gk. word is ἀλμενιχιακά, neut. pl.; the phrase ἐν τοῖς ἀλμενιχιακοῖς occurs in Eusebius, as cited.   But it is hardly possible to derive almanac from this Gk. form.   The etymology is almost hopeless; but it may perhaps be traced, through F. almanac, Span. almanac (or almanaque) to Arab. al, the, and manakh, a calendar, used in the Toledo tables compiled in the 13th century; see Tyrwhitt's note to Chaucer, C. T. 11585.   This manakh is not a true Arabic word, but prob. of Gk. origin; perhaps from Gk. μήν, a month.   It may be noted that the Lat. manacus, in Forcellini, is a false form, due to a misreading.   The right reading is menaeus = Gk. μηναῖος, the zodiac.  It occurs in Vitruvius, de Archit. ix. 8, the other readings being maneus, manaeus.   See the ed. by Rose and Müller-Strübing, Lipsiæ, 1867.