What were the ancient Egypt months called?

Answer 1

When used in dates on official inscriptions the 12 ancient Egyptian months were not named. Instead they were numbered within each of the 3 seasons: for example first month of Akhet, third month of Peret, fourth month of Shemu.

The months did have names, but these were not fixed over time and were different in the Old Kingdom than in the Middle Kingdom. In the Late Period, the Greek and Roman versions of the names of months were different again.

Month..................Old Kingdom Name..................Middle Kingdom Name

1..........................Tx.............................................Dhwt

2..........................Mnht.........................................Pnibt

3..........................Hwt-hr......................................Hwt-hr

4..........................Ka-hr-ka....................................Ka-hr-ka

5..........................Sfbdt.........................................Ta'b

6...........................Rxwr.........................................Mhyr

7...........................Rxnds.......................................Pnimnhtpw

8...........................Rnwt.........................................Pnrnnt

9...........................Hnsw........................................Pnhnsw

10..........................Hnthj........................................Pnint

11..........................Ipthmt......................................Ipip

12..........................Wprnpt.....................................Mswr'

Hieroglyphs did not write vowels, only consonants (the a and i letters represent Egyptian sounds that do not exist in English), so we can not know how any of these names were said.

The name Wprnpt (month 12) is written with signs meaning the festival of the New Year.