The Armenian calendar uses the calendar era of AD 552, reflecting the separation of the Armenian Apostolic Church from the Roman Church by the Monophysite schism.
Contents
The calendar traditionally used in medieval Armenia was based on an invariant year length of 365 days. As a result, the correspondence between it and both the solar year and the Julian calendar slowly drifted over time, shifting across a year of the Julian calendar once in 1,461 calendar years (see Sothic cycle).
Thus, the Armenian year 1461 (Gregorian 2010/2011) completed the first full cycle; Armenian year 1 began on 11 July 552 of the Julian calendar, and Armenian year 1462 began on 24 July 2012 of the Gregorian calendar (corresponding to Julian 11 July).
The Armenian calendar is divided into 12 months of 30 days each, plus an additional (epagomenal) five days are called aveleacʿ ("superfluous"). Years are usually given in Armenian numerals, letters of the Armenian alphabet preceded by the abbreviation ԹՎ for t’vin "in the year" (for example, ԹՎ ՌՆԾԵ "in the year 1455").
Months
The Armenian month names show influence of the Zoroastrian calendar, and, as noted by Antoine Meillet, Kartvelian influence in two cases. There are different systems for transliterating the names; the forms below are transliterated according to the Hübschmann-Meillet-Benveniste system.
Days of the month
The Armenian calendar names the days of the month instead of numbering them – a peculiarity also found in the Avestan calendars. Zoroastrian influence is evident in at least five names.