如月

如月

1. (archaic) The second month of the Chinese lunar calendar.

• 杏月 (Xìngyuè), 麗月／丽月 (Lìyuè), 花月, 柳月, 仲春, 酣春, 艷春／艳春, 芳春, 早春 (zǎochūn)

• Month of the Year: 如月
  • Previous: 正月
  • Next: 桃月

Note: Any month in the Chinese calendar may be preceded or followed by an intercalary month, an irregular month inserted into the calendar to bring the lunar year in line with the solar year.

Likely from Old Japanese. Attested in a reading annotation to 春分 ("vernal equinox") in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE; depending on the manuscript it appears with the unvoiced (or no rendaku) reading キサラキ (kisaraki).[1]

720, Nihon Shoki, 62nd year of Emperor Nintoku:

自(より)_㆑是(これ)以後(のち)、毎(ごとニ)_㆑當(あたル)_㆓ 季冬(しはすニ)_㆒、必(かならズ)藏(をさム)_㆑氷(こほりヲ)、至(いたリテ)_㆑于(に)_㆓春分(きさらぎ)_㆒、始(はじメテ)散(くばル)_㆑氷也(こほりヲ)。 [Man'yōgana]

是(これ)より以後(のち)、季冬(しはす)に当(あた)る毎(ごと)に、必(かなら)ず氷(こほり)を蔵(をさ)む、春分(きさらぎ)に至(いた)りて、始(はじ)めて氷(こほり)を散(くば)る。 [Modern spelling]

Kore yori nochi, shiwasu ni ataru goto ni, kanarazu kōri o osamu, kisaragi ni itarite, hajimete kōri o kubaru.

After this, he invariably storages ice every time when the end of winter (the 12th month) comes; When the vernal equinox (the 2nd month) comes, he distributes the ice for the first time.

The alternative spelling 衣更着 (and also 更衣 (“change the clothes”)) reflects the derivation from 衣 (kinu, “robes, clothing”) + 更 (sara, “again, more”) + 着 (ki, “wearing”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 着る (kiru, “to wear clothing on the upper body”)), first proposed by a poet Fujiwara no Kiyosuke (藤原清輔), in his work Ōgishō, 1144.[1][2][3]

Some sources also note that this spelling only arose in the late Heian period and propose alternative hypotheses including:

• Compound of 気 (ki, “spirits, mood”) + 更 (sara, “again, more”) + 来 (ki, “coming”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 来る (kuru, “to come”)), from the sense of one's mood improving as winter comes to a close.[3]
• Compound of 生 (ki, “live; life”, short for iki) + 更 (sara, “again, more”) + 来 (ki, “coming”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 来る (kuru, “to come”)), from the sense of plants putting forth new shoots.
• James Marshall Unger suggests that this may ultimately be cognate with modern Korean 겨울 (gyeoul, “winter”).[4] Compare obsolete or dialectal form 겨슬 (gyeoseul), and Middle Korean 겨ᅀᆞᆶ (kyezolh). In this hypothesis, the /o/ in the Middle Korean is potentially problematic, but Unger views the final /-lh/ as a good match for the final /-raɡi/ in the Japanese. However this theory is unreasonable for the following reasons:
  • The 2nd month of East Asian lunar calendar is when the vernal equinox occurs, or the middle month of spring, which is never considered as winter.[5]
  • Vowel ㅕ (Yale: ye) of Koreanic is consistently transcribed in <e> in Japanese, until its pronunciation changed to [jʌ̹] as the standard Korean in the early modern times (cf. 寺(てら) (tera, “temple”, borrowed from Baekje, related to Middle Korean 뎔〮 (Yale: tyél; modern Korean 절 (jeol))), 嶋(セマ) (sema, transliteration of the Baekje word for "island", related to 셤〯 (Yale: syěm; modern Korean 섬 (seom))), 倍留(ぺる) (peru, transliteration of 별 (byeol, “star”) in the Wakan Sansai Zue, 1712) (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)).

The spelling 如月 itself is borrowed from Middle Chinese 如月 (MC nyo ngjwot).

• (Tokyo) きさらぎ [kìsárágí] (Heiban – [0])[6][2][7]
• IPA^(key): [kʲi̥sa̠ɾa̠ɡʲi]

如月(きさらぎ) • (kisaragi) 

1. (archaic) the second month of the lunar calendar
2. (poetic) February

Coordinate terms: 睦月, 如月, 弥生, 卯月, 皐月, 水無月, 文月, 葉月, 長月, 神無月, 霜月, 師走

• Entry in Gogen-Allguide (in Japanese)

Unknown. Appears to be coined in Japan of Middle Chinese-derived roots, as a compound of 如 (jo, “resemble, look like”) +‎ 月 (getsu, “moon; month”).

First cited with this reading to a text from 1559.[1]

• (Tokyo) じょ​げつ [jóꜜgètsù] (Atamadaka – [1])[6]
• IPA^(key): [d͡ʑo̞ɡe̞t͡sɨᵝ]

如(じょ)月(げつ) • (jogetsu) 

1. (archaic) the second month of the lunar calendar