Editing Almanac (section)

== Name ==
The etymology of the word is unclear. The earliest documented use of the word in something like its current sense is in [[Latin]] in 1267. [[Roger Bacon]] used it to mean a set of tables detailing movements of heavenly bodies including the Moon.

It has been suggested that the word ''almanac'' derives from a [[Greek language|Greek]] word meaning ''calendar''.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Almanac|encyclopedia=[[Webster's New World Dictionary]]|pages=18|editor-last=Agnes|editor-first=Michael|publisher=Pocket Books|location=New York|date=2003|edition=4th|isbn=978-0-7434-7069-8|access-date=30 November 2019|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0tSdRTsP4QEC&q=almenichiaka&pg=PA18}}</ref>  However, that word appears only once in antiquity, by [[Eusebius]] who quotes [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] as to the Coptic Egyptian use of astrological charts (''almenichiaká''). The earliest almanacs were calendars that included agricultural, astronomical, or meteorological data. But it is highly unlikely Roger Bacon received the word from this etymology: "Notwithstanding the suggestive sound and use of this word (of which however the real form is very uncertain), the difficulties of connecting it historically either with the [[Spanish Arabic]] manākh, or with [[Medieval Latin]] {{Lang|la|almanach|italic=no}} without Arabic intermediation, seem insurmountable."<ref>[[Oxford English Dictionary]]</ref>

One etymology report says "The ultimate source of the word is obscure. Its first syllable, al-, and its general relevance to medieval science and technology, strongly suggest an [[Arabic]] origin, but no convincing candidate has been found".<ref>{{cite book|last=Ayto|first=John|title=Word Origins: The Hidden Histories of English Words from A to Z|publisher=A & C Black|location=London|edition=2nd|date=2005|isbn=978-0-7136-7498-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hsRISNLSSHAC&q=almanac|access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref> [[Ernest Weekley]] similarly states of ''almanac'': "First seen in Roger Bacon. Apparently from Spanish Arabic, ''al-manakh'', but this is not an Arabic word....The word remains a puzzle."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Weekley|first=Ernest|author-link=Ernest Weekley|title=Almanac|encyclopedia=An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English|pages=33–34|publisher=John Murray|location=London|date=1921|url=https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict00weekuoft/|access-date=30 November 2019|isbn=978-0486218731}}</ref> [[Walter William Skeat]] concludes that the construction of an Arabic origin is "not satisfactory".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Skeat|first=Walter W.|author-link=Walter William Skeat|title=Almanac|encyclopedia=An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language|pages=17–18|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=London|date=1888|url=https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict00skeauoft/|access-date=30 November 2019|asin=B00088OD6Q}}</ref>  The ''[[New English Dictionary on Historical Principles|Oxford English Dictionary]]'' similarly says "the word has no etymon in Arabic" but indirect circumstantial evidence "points to a Spanish Arabic ''al-manākh''".<ref>"Almanac" in [https://archive.org/stream/oed01arch#page/244/mode/1up ''New English Dictionary on Historical Principles''] (which has an extra "note as to the origin and history of the word ''almanac''").</ref> The Oxford Dictionary of English says that the word origin is "via Old French and medieval Latin from Spanish Arabic al-manāk ('the calendar')".

The reason why the proposed Arabic word is speculatively spelled ''al-manākh'' is that the spelling occurred as "almanach", as well as almanac (and Roger Bacon used both spellings). The earliest use of the word was in the context of astronomy calendars. The Arabic word {{Lang|ar|المناخ}} {{Transliteration|ar|al-munākh}} has different meanings in contemporary Arabic than in classical Arabic usage. The word originally meant "the place where camels kneel [so riders and baggage can disembark]". In contemporary Arabic, the word means "climate".<ref>{{Cite web |title=مناخ |url=https://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar/%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AE |website=Almaany المعاني}}</ref>

The prestige of the [[Tables of Toledo]] and other [[astronomy in medieval Islam|medieval Arabic astronomy works]] at the time of the word's emergence in the West, together with the absence of the word in Arabic, suggest it may have been invented in the West and is pseudo-Arabic. At that time in the West, it would have been prestigious to attach an Arabic appellation to a set of astronomical tables. Also around that time, prompted by that motive, the Latin writer [[Pseudo-Geber]] wrote under an Arabic pseudonym. (The later alchemical word ''[[alkahest]]'' is known to be pseudo-Arabic.)