Did the Gegorian calendar copy the Somali calendar?

[Ninmadow]

The Somali calendar was exactly 12 months 365 days 4 seasons and 7 days a week and it’s older then any abrahmic or gegorian calendar by one thousand years. Did the Greeks and Roman’s who we had ties to at that time still our calendar and ran with it or nah?

 

[greznigrezni]

I was skeptical until I found out that it dates back to 985BC. Weird that the pope established the Gregorian calendar to be used in 1582. This was also the time when the Ajuran and Adal empire were at their peak.

Here's an explanation from Quora that I found to be quite interesting.

"Besides the weekly cycle, there are four other major cycles in the system: the 50-day cycle, which is seven weeks plus one day; the yearly cycle which is 7 x 50 days plus 15 days; the seven-year cycle which is 7 x 365 or 2,555 days long; and the 49-year cycle which is 7 x 7 years in length. All these time units share the number of seven or weekly cycle. Every unit is named after its first day, which is also the last day of yearly and 50-day cycles.​

​

The first 50 days of the Somali Calendric Year of 2007-2008, in the Gregorian system, are from Saturday July 21, 2007, to Saturday Sep. 8, 2007. The same pattern applies to the first and the last days of the year, while the first day of the year is Saturday July 21, 2007, the last day of the year is Saturday July 19, 2008, because this calendar is based on the summer solstices. Thus, the time units used in this year are 50 day intervals and 365 day intervals, and the name of this year is Saturday. These time units are carefully and systematically enumerated day by day and period by period where practice and redundancy have resulted in sophistication and accuracy."​

Source: https://www.quora.com/Do-Somalis-have-their-own-calendar-system

 

[Clllam]

Pope Gregory... Somalia, two things you won’t expect to hear at the same time.

somalis were on the other side of the earth

 

[Mount23]

They stole it from the Ancient Egyptians

 

[Qeelbax]

It is ours!!!!
Stop crediting everything to ajnabi

 

[Idilinaa]

Not at all , Somali calendar is unrelated to the Gregorian and the organization of it is more or less taking into account the local weather, and seasons within the region they had track, and for that reason they are more related to other Horn of African devised calendars and perhaps share some terminology with them.

I don't think i've seen anyone accurately estimate a date for it yet but from what i can tell we know it might be ancient due to Sada Mire's archeological discoveries on cave art i remember reading how she cracked a calendar:

In the case of Dacawale (16) in Dhaymoole where my
maternal family lives, we have what appear to be lunar calendars, depicting a 28-day calendar, and crescents and full moons as well as geometric and other intricate designs and animal depictions

(PDF) Mapping the Archaeology of Somaliland: Religion, Art, Script, Time, Urbanism, Trade and Empire

PDF | This paper presents the results of some of the surveys conducted to map archaeological sites of Somaliland and includes almost 100 new and... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

www.researchgate.net

But since another poster mentioned Adal and Ajuran we have some evidence to references to it's usage of it during their time:

The usage of the Somali calendar in textual writing appears in Al-Omaris explanation of Zayla(Awdal) Somalis using it:

Al-Umari of Cairo states that in the land of Zayla’ (Awdal) “they cultivate two times annually by seasonal rains … The rainfall for the winter is called ‘Bil’ and rainfall for the ‘summer’ is called ‘Karam’ in the language of the people of Zayla’ [Awdali Somalis].”

The author’s description about seasons generally corresponds to the local seasons in historical Awdal where Karan or Karam is an important rainy season at the beginning of the year. The second half of the year is called ‘Bilo Dirir’ (Bil = month; Bilo = months). It appears that the historian was referring, in one way or another, to these still used terms, Karan and Bil. This indicates that the ancient Somali solar calendar citizens of Zeila were using was very similar to the one they use today.

And Somali calendar names are seen on medieval tomb inscriptions in Mogadishu that date from year 1365

It is something pointed out by an Italian writer named Enrico Cerulli:

On another tomb of this group we read The weak hopeful servant and forgiveness of his gracious Lord, the Hagg Yusuf Ibn Abu Bakr Ibn Hagg Da'ud, died on the fourth Monday of the month of du al-higgah of the year Saturday after seven hundred and sixty-six years from the Hegira of the Prophet. God's blessings be on the Prophet. Corresponds to! 22 August 1365.

The inscription is particularly important, as it counts the first mention of the Somali year in use alongside the Muslim year also in the coastal centers. With <the year Saturday> we mean the first year of the Somali seven-year cycle. of the inscription and from referring to meaning by the Prophet, as in the inscription n. X. It should be noted that a similar expression can also be found in an Arabic text from East Africa, published by Becker who says verbatim speaking of a Muslim saint

 

[Som]

Not at all , Somali calendar is unrelated to the Gregorian and the organization of it is more or less taking into account the local weather, and seasons within the region they had track, and for that reason they are more related to other Horn of African devised calendars and perhaps share some terminology with them.

I don't think i've seen anyone accurately estimate a date for it yet but from what i can tell we know it might be ancient due to Sada Mire's archeological discoveries on cave art i remember reading how she cracked a calendar:

(PDF) Mapping the Archaeology of Somaliland: Religion, Art, Script, Time, Urbanism, Trade and Empire

PDF | This paper presents the results of some of the surveys conducted to map archaeological sites of Somaliland and includes almost 100 new and... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

www.researchgate.net

But since another poster mentioned Adal and Ajuran we have some evidence to references to it's usage of it during their time:

The usage of the Somali calendar in textual writing appears in Al-Omaris explanation of Zayla(Awdal) Somalis using it:






And Somali calendar names are seen on medieval tomb inscriptions in Mogadishu that date from year 1365

It is something pointed out by an Italian writer named Enrico Cerulli:

What about years though? Do we have anything that indicates a starting year from which we start counting ? The Ethiopians count from the birth of Christ but they have another calculation so they are a few years behind

 

[Idilinaa]

What about years though? Do we have anything that indicates a starting year from which we start counting ? The Ethiopians count from the birth of Christ but they have another calculation so they are a few years behind

The starting year in calendars in general are a subject to change. For example in Europe in the Middle Ages various new year dates were used before they ended up settling on one.

The big significance about this finding is that in one hand it shows information/evidence of Somali language on the benadiri coast in the middle ages 14th century and the other hand a medieval evidence of Somali calendar usage in southern Somalia.

A chart from: Peoples of the Horn of Africa (Somali, Afar and Saho): I.M Lewis

Some information on the years and calculation:

The Somali have a lunar and a solar calendar. The latter is used to calculate the date of the two annual wet seasons, knowledge of which is equally important to the cultivators of the south who order their sowingaccordingly, and to the northern nomads in the regulation stock-movements to new pasture. The beginning of the solar year is celebrated in the fire-feast of dabshid. There are two methods of calculating dabshi, one approximate and dependent upon the lunar calendar, the other ,accurate and esoteric, based on observation of occultation of spica, the a-Virginis (Somali : diriri) .

The Somalis year among the Mijertein has two divisions: dayr (dhair), the dry season of little rain lasting 180 days and divided into six 30 days periods, and todoba-di dirir,