Miesiące po polsku: od lipca do grudnia

What does “listopad” literally mean in Polish?

November in Polish is listopad — literally “leaf-fall,” from liść (leaf) and padać (to fall). Polish skipped the Latin month names almost entirely and describes what nature is doing instead: lipiec (July) is the linden-bloom month, sierpień (August) the sickle month of harvest, grudzień (December) the month of frozen clods of earth (gruda). Learn the picture behind each name and the calendar suddenly sticks.

One trap for travelers: the same word wanders between Slavic calendars. In Czech, listopad is November like in Polish — but in Croatian, listopad is October, because leaves fall earlier down south. Also in the clip: październik (October), named after paździerze, the woody stalks left over from processing flax — a snapshot of the old harvest year frozen into the language.