almanac English · revision 1627

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: [ˈɔl.mə.næk], [ˈæl.mə.næk] ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|almenak]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) [[der|la-med|almanach]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) a word of uncertain origin.^(Etymonline) The usual explanation traces it to [[xaa|al-manākh|t=calendar]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) perhaps from [[grc-koi|almenichiakón|t=calendar]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) which is said to be of Coptic origin.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) Barnhart gives the route as Spanish ''almanaque'' and Catalan ''almanac''.^(Barnhart 1995) Etymonline notes a case that the word was pseudo-Arabic, coined by astronomers in Paris in the mid-13th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A book of permanent astronomical tables (late 14th century).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Medieval almanacs were tables for calculating the movements of the heavens.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) One-year versions with calendars and church feasts appear in the 16th century,^(Etymonline) astrological and weather predictions in the 16th and 17th,^(Etymonline) and the modern books of useful statistics are a later development.^(Etymonline)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * mid-13th century – recorded in Anglo-Latin.^(Etymonline)

+ * about 1391 – English, a book of astronomical tables.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 16th century – one-year almanacs with calendars.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1611 – ''almanac-maker''.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A yearly publication with a [[calendar]] and [[astronomical]] and weather information, such as sunrises, tides and phases of the moon.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A yearly reference book of facts and [[statistics]], in one field or many.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}