Note 49 — II. OUR DUTIES. (continued 2)

The months are named according to their order, the first month, the second, &c.; the first being the first month in the spring. Other names, implying agricultural and climatic relations, were likewise in use, and the following four of them have been preserved in the Bible: the first month is called Abib, “ears of corn;” the second Ziv, “beauty;” the seventh Ethanim, “hardy fruit;” and the eighth, Bul, “rain.”49 Since the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile, names of foreign origin have been in use, viz., Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Abh, Elul, Tishri, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tebheth, Shebhat and Adar.50 Roughly speaking, these months correspond to April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, January, February, and March.