# four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter



## Perseas

Seasons: winter, spring, summer, automn.

In Greek:
*Εποχές: χειμώνας, άνοιξη, καλοκαίρι, φθινόπωρο.*

How do you say them in your language?

(I hope there isn't already a similar thread ).


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## snoopymanatee

*In Turkish:*

_spring_ --> *ilkbahar*

_summer_ --> *yaz*

_autumn_ --> *sonbahar*

_winter_ --> *kış*


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## rusita preciosa

Perseas said:


> *Εποχές: χειμώνας, άνοιξη, καλοκαίρι, φθινόπωρο.*


Can you write the pronounciation please?

Russian:
_spring_ --> *весна *(f)/vesn*a*/

_summer_ --> *лето *(n)/l*e*to/

_autumn_ --> *осень *(f)/*o*sen’/

_winter_ --> *зима *(f)/zim*a*/


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## Agró

*Spanish*: invierno, primavera, verano, otoño
*Catalan*: hivern, primavera, estiu, tardor
*Basque*: negu, udaberri, uda, udazken


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## Perseas

rusita preciosa said:


> Can you write the pronounciation please?



winter = χειμώνας /çi'monas/
spring = άνοιξη /'aniksi/
summer = καλοκαίρι /kalo'ceri/
 autumn = φθινόπωρο /fθi'noporo/


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## AutumnOwl

_*Swedish:*
Vinter
Vår
Sommar 
Höst
*
Finnish:*
Talvi
Kevät
Kesä
Syksy_


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## DearPrudence

In *French*:
winter, spring, summer, automn.
*hiver, printemps, été, automne* (all masculine)

(to be used with the preposition "en".
_Eg: "*En hiver*, il neige."__ ("In winter, it snows")_
except with "printemps": "au"
_"*Au printemps*, il fait beau."_ _("In the spring, the weather is nice"))_


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## Anja.Ann

Ciao 

In Italian:

- Spring: primavera
- Summer: estate
- Autumn: autunno
- Winter: inverno 

"Primavera" and "Estate" are feminine, while "Autunno" and "Inverno" are masculine.


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## francisgranada

Hungarian:

spring -* tavasz*
summer -* nyár
*autumn -* ősz*
winter -* tél
*
(no grammatical gender exists in Hungarian)


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## mataripis

In Tagalog: 1.) winter= Tag lamig   2.) Autumn= Tag lagas   3.) Summer=Tag araw/Tag init   4.) Spring= Tag sibol


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## djara

In Arabic:
Winter= شتاء = shitaa2 (2 is a glottal stop)
Spring= ربيع = rabii3 (3 is a guttural sound)
Summer= صيف = Sayf
Autumn= خريف  = khariif


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## catlady60

American English:
spring, summer, _fall, _winter


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## Explorer41

Are there many languages where the number of seasons is not four?


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## ThomasK

Dutch: 
- lente
- zomer
- herfst
- winter


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## Perseas

In German:
Winter-Frühling-Sommer-Herbst

I' ve noticed that some members start with "spring" and others with "winter", like me. I did so because we are in winter now.

@Explorer41
Is this a rhetorical question?


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## francisgranada

What's the etymology of "lente"?


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## apmoy70

francisgranada said:


> What's the etymology of "lente"?



It's a cognate word with English Lent: 





			
				etymonline.com said:
			
		

> late 14c., short for Lenten (n.) "forty days before Easter" (early 12c.), from O.E. lencten "springtime, spring," the season, also "the fast of Lent," from *W.Gmc. *langa-tinaz "long-days"* (cf. O.S. lentin, M.Du. lenten, O.H.G. lengizin manoth), from *lanngaz (root of O.E. lang "long") + *tina-, a root meaning "day" (cf. Goth. sin-teins "daily"), cognate with O.C.S. dini, Lith. diena, L. dies "day." the compound probably refers to the increasing daylight. *Cf. similar form evolution in Du. lente *(M.Du. lentin), Ger. Lenz (O.H.G. lengizin) "spring." Church sense of "period between Ash Wednesday and Easter" is peculiar to English


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## ThomasK

Not that interesting, alas: just days growing longer... I prefer _primavera_, soundwise and semantically, I think...


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## francisgranada

Thank you, apmoy70 , it's raeally interesting (at least for me, 'cos I didn't know this word).


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## francisgranada

ThomasK said:


> ...I prefer primavera, soundwise and semantically, I think...


Though no objective criteria may exist (of course), the Romance word _primavera _is "really" beautiful ...


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## Explorer41

Perseas said:


> @Explorer41
> Is this a rhetorical question?


Er.. I don't know the answer.
Probably it should depend on climatic conditions, or maybe on ways of life organisation in specific cultures.

For example, I see no definite reason, why Russian has four seasons and not, say, five (I can distinguish five). Similarly, in equatorial Africa languages may distinguish only two or not to distinguish seasons at all — why not? The number of four looks casual, it's an interesting question why so many languages have chosen to distinguish four; it is also a very interesting question, whether there are many languages who find another number of seasons.

How many seasons do have Chinese, Korean or Japan? ;-)
Thanks


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## Perseas

I have read that initially in ancient Greece  the year was divided in two seasons, *χειμών* and *θέρος *(winter and summer). Later,i.e. about the 7th BC century, the division of the year in four seasons was established: *χειμών (m.) *= winter,* έαρ* *(n.)* = spring, *θέρος* *(n.)* = summer, *φθινόπωρον* *(n.) *= autumn. The modern Greek pronunciation is "/çi'mon/, /'ear/,/'θeros/, /fθi'noporon/ respectively. 
*Έαρ* is cognate with the latin *ver* (cf. italian prima-vera), the russian *vesna*, the polish *wiosna* and the swedish *Vår*_, _all deriving from the  PIE root *wes-r-.


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## francisgranada

I think the number of seasons is given by the two opposite seasons (summer - winter) plus the transition between them. The result is four.


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## Explorer41

Perseas said:


> I have read that initially in ancient Greece  the year was divided in two seasons, *χειμών* and *θέρος *(winter and summer). Later,i.e. about the 7th BC century, the division of the year in four seasons was established: *χειμών (m.) *= winter,* έαρ* *(n.)* = spring, *θέρος* *(n.)* = summer, *φθινόπωρον* *(n.) *= autumn. The modern Greek pronunciation is "/çi'mon/, /'ear/,/'θeros/, /fθi'noporon/ respectively.
> *Έαρ* is cognate with the latin *ver* (cf. italian prima-vera), the russian *vesna*, the polish *wiosna* and the swedish *Vår*_, _all deriving from the  PIE root *wes-r-.


Thank you!


francisgranada said:


> I think the number of seasons is given by the two opposite seasons (summer - winter) plus the transition between them. The result is four.


Maybe


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## myfakename

ThomasK said:


> Dutch:
> - lente
> - zomer
> - herfst
> - winter



A quick addendum:

lente _m_ /ˈlɛntə/
zomer _m_ /ˈzoʊ̯mər/ (Netherlands); /ˈzoːmər/ (Belgium)
herfst _m_ /ˈɦɛrfst/
winter _m_ /ˈʋɪntər/ (NL); /ˈβ̞ɪntər/ (some parts of Belgium); /ˈwɪntər/ (standard Belgian Dutch and Suriname)

*Polish*

wiosna _f_ /ˈvʲɔsna/
lato _m_ /ˈlatɔ/
jesień _f_ /ˈjɛɕɛɲ/
zima _f_ /ˈʑima/


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## ThomasK

Could you comment on the eytmology in Polis, MFK? 

I'd like to point out that the difference between Dutch and Flemish pronunciation of summer is not that different, I think. The Dutch do often pronounce the /o/ as kind of a diphthongue though...


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## myfakename

Well in fast speech /ʊ/ in /oʊ̯/ can be short. In and near Randstad though, it's an "obvious" diphtong /oʊ̯/ (or even /ou̯/). Of course there are dialects with monophtongs instead of diphtongs (Twents, Zeeuws), but they're in minority. In standard Dutch (spoken by very few people, like RP in England) /oʊ̯/ doesn't exist though.


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## darush

pronounciation key:
a is a in cat
A is A in cAr
in Persian(Farsi),
spring: bahAr
summer: tAbestAn
autumn: pAyiz or pA'iz
winter: zemestAn


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## arielipi

hebrew is phonetic! joy joy!

summer: kayitz
winter: khoref
fall: stav
spring: aviv
no other words i could find[checked it just for this]
yes khoref does sound similar to the arabic equivalent


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## francisgranada

Only for curiosity: Does the Hebrew "aviv" (spring) mean also _love_? If so, the spring could be interpreted as the "season of love" ...


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## tFighterPilot

Nope, that's ahava, a completely unrelated word.


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## darush

I know avivan is a Kurdish girl name.


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## arielipi

nope, but it does tend to be related with teen-age-like, energy and such... khoref comes,or perhaps it is the opposite, from the shoresh[something in hebrew] kh r f which forms words that means sleep.
also because ancient jews were farmers mostly, there are other names though not official to the seasons:
spring+summer: kharish,katzir - when you gather the wheat because its fully grown or any other vegetable/fruit.

fall: shalechet - its a word that means fall of leaves[from trees].


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## francisgranada

tFighterPilot said:


> Nope, that's ahava, a completely unrelated word.


Ah so, thanks for the answer. I'm probably a bit OT, but I've a question: Is the Arabic _habib r_elated to the Hebrew_ aviv _or to_ ahava_?


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## arielipi

hebrew took that word and made it haviv[if im not wrong ofc] , haviv means dear, so if it is taken from that word - it probably means that or friend...


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## Moro12

Japanese (underlined syllables carry a pitch accent, i.e. pronounced at a higher pitch level):

spring 春 [haru]
summer 夏 [natsu]
autumn 秋 [aki]
winter 冬 [fuyu]

Chinese:

spring 春 [chūn] (high level tone)
summer 夏 [xià] (falling tone)
autumn 秋 [qiū] (high level tone)
winter 冬 [dōng] (high level tone)

Georgian:

spring გაზაფხული [gazapkhuli]
summer ზაფხული [zapkhuli]
autumn შემოდგომა [shemodgoma]
winter ზამთარი [zamtari]


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## Moro12

Seasons in Thai language.

Note. Thai is a tonal language. There are 5 tones marked with diacritics over syllabic nuclei the following way:

a (no diacritic) - means the mid tone;
à - means the low tone;
á - means the high tone;
â - means the falling tone;
ǎ - means the rising tone.

Thailand only has three seasons: hot (March – June), rainy (July – October) and cold (November – February).

There are two basic words for “season” in Thai: ฤดู [reú-duu] (formal) and หน้า [nâa] (colloquial). IPA: [rɯ˥du:˧] and [na:˥˩]

The names of the Thai seasons are:

hot season: ฤดูร้อน [reú-duu ráawn] or หน้าร้อน [nâa ráawn] (ร้อน [ráawn] means “hot”) IPA: [rɯ˥du:˧ rɔːn˧˥] and [na:˥˩ rɔːn˧˥]
rainy season: ฤดูฝน [reú-duu fǒn] or หน้าฝน [nâa fǒn] (ฝน [fǒn] means “rain”) IPA: [rɯ˥du:˧ fon˩˦] and [na:˥˩ fon˩˦]
cold season: ฤดูหนาว [reú-duu nǎao] or หน้าหนาว [nâa nǎao] (หนาว [nǎao] means “cold”) IPA: [rɯ˥du:˧ na:u̯˩˩˦] and [na:˥˩ na:u̯˩˩˦]

Sometimes the hot season and the cold season are combined into the dry season: ฤดูแล้ง [reú-duu láaeng] or หน้าแล้ง [nâa láaeng] (แล้ง [láaeng] means “dry”) IPA: [rɯ˥du:˧ lɛːŋ˧˥] and [na:˥˩ lɛːŋ˧˥]

However, when Thai people refer to the Northern four-season pattern, they use the following words to describe our seasons:

spring: ฤดูใบไม้ผลิ [reú-duu bai-máai phlì] – the season when leaves sprout (ฤดู [reú-duu] “season”, ใบไม้ [bai-máai] “leaf”, ผลิ [phlì] “to sprout”) IPA: [rɯ˥du:˧ bai̯˧ma:i̯˧˥ phliʔ˩]
summer: ฤดูร้อน [reú-duu ráawn] – hot season (ฤดู [reú-duu] “season”, ร้อน [ráawn] “hot” – same as for the Thai hot season) IPA: [rɯ˥du:˧ rɔːn˧˥]
autumn: ฤดูใบไม้ร่วง [reú-duu bai-máai rûang] – the season when leaves fall off (ฤดู [reú-duu] “season”, ใบไม้ [bai-máai] “leaf”, ร่วง [rûang] “to fall off”) IPA: [rɯ˥du:˧ bai̯˧ma:i̯˧˥ ruːa̯ŋ˥˩]
winter: ฤดูหนาว [reú-duu nǎao] – cold season (ฤดู [reú-duu] “season”, หนาว [nǎao] “cold” – same as for the Thai cold season) IPA: [rɯ˥du:˧ na:u̯˩˩˦]


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## Moro12

Seasons in Khmer (Cambodian language).

Note. The pronunciation of all the Cambodian words below is given in IPA.


Cambodia has two distinct seasons: the rainy season (May to October) and the dry season (November to April).

The word for “season” in Cambodian is រដូវ [rɔ-dow] (formal) or ខែ [khae] (colloquial).

The names of the two basic Cambodian seasons are:

Dry season: រដូវប្រាំង [rɔ-dow praŋ] or ខែប្រាំង [khae praŋ] (ប្រាំង [praŋ] means “arid”).

It can also be called រដូវរាំង [rɔ-dow rĕəŋ] (រាំង [rĕəŋ] means “to cease (of rain)”).

Rainy season: រដូវភ្លៀង [rɔ-dow phliəŋ] or ខែភ្លៀង [khae phliəŋ] (ភ្លៀង [phliəŋ] means “rain”).

It can also be called រដូវវស្សា [rɔ-dow ʋŏəh-sa:] (វស្សា [ʋŏəh-sa:] is a formal Sanskrit-originated word meaning “rain”).


However, when Cambodian people refer to the Northern four-season pattern, they use the following words to describe our seasons:

spring: រដូវស្លឹកលាស់ [rɔ-dow slək lŏəh] – the season when leaves grow (រដូវ [rɔ-dow] “season”, ស្លឹក [slək] “leaf, plant”, លាស់ [lŏəh] “to bloom, to grow”);

summer: រដូវក្ដៅ [rɔ-dow kdaw] – hot season (រដូវ [rɔ-dow] “season”, ក្ដៅ [kdaw] “hot”);

autumn: រដូវស្លឹកជ្រុះ [rɔ-dow slək cruh] – the season when leaves fall (រដូវ [rɔ-dow] “season”, ស្លឹក [slək] “leaf, plant”, ជ្រុះ [cruh] “to fall/to detach/to come off”);

winter: រដូវរងា [rɔ-dow rɔ-ŋiə] – cold season (រដូវ [rɔ-dow] “season”, រងា [rɔ-ŋiə] “cold”);

it can also be called រដូវត្រជាក់ [rɔ-dow trɑ-cĕək] – cold season (រដូវ [rɔ-dow] “season”, ត្រជាក់ [trɑ-cĕək] “fresh, cold”).


There are also formal (Sanskrit-originated) names of the Northern four seasons:

spring: និទាឃៈ [ni-tiə-khĕəʔ];

summer: វស្សានៈ [ʋŏəh-sa:-naʔ];

autumn: សរទៈ [sɑ-rɑ-tĕəʔ];

winter: សិសិរៈ [se-se-rĕəʔ].


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## Moro12

Sorry for duplicating. Just added IPA transcriptions.



Moro12 said:


> Japanese (underlined syllables carry a pitch accent, i.e. pronounced at a higher pitch level):
> 
> spring 春 [haru] IPA: [háɺɯ̀]
> summer 夏 [natsu] IPA: [nàt͡sɯ́]
> autumn 秋 [aki] IPA: [ákjì̥]
> winter 冬 [fuyu] IPA: [ɸɯ̀jɯ́]
> 
> Chinese:
> 
> spring 春 [chūn] (high level tone) IPA: [ʈ͡ʂhu̯ən˥]
> summer 夏 [xià] (falling tone) IPA: [ɕi̯ɑ˥˩]
> autumn 秋 [qiū] (high level tone) IPA: [t͡ɕʰi̯ɤʊ̯˥]
> winter 冬 [dōng] (high level tone) IPA: [tʊŋ˥]
> 
> Georgian:
> 
> spring გაზაფხული [gazapkhuli] IPA: [gazapʰxuli]
> summer ზაფხული [zapkhuli] IPA: [zapʰxuli]
> autumn შემოდგომა [shemodgoma] IPA: [ʃɛmɔdgɔma]
> winter ზამთარი [zamtari] IPA: [zamthari]


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## Explorer41

Thank you, *Moro12*! The pattern is very intersting. Probably, some many other languages of the zone follow the same pattern of dual seasoning? Southeastern Asia, Philippines, Indonesia etc... I mean the pattern of having both local names of two or three local seasons and locally originated names of the four European seasons.


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## jana.bo99

Slovenian:

Winter - Zima
Spring - Pomlad
Summer - Poletje
Autumn - Jesen

Croatian: 

Winter - Zima
Spring - Proljeće
Summer - Ljeto
Autumn - Jesen


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## ilocas2

Czech:

spring - *jaro*
summer - *léto*
autumn - *podzim*
winter - *zima*


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## Nizo

En Esperanto, la kvar sezonoj estas / In Esperanto, the four seasons are:

winter *vintro*
spring *printempo*
summer *somero
*fall/autumn _*aŭtuno*_

In some parts of the world, the distinction is made only between *la pluva sezono* (rainy season) and *la seka sezono*​ (the dry season).


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