Months in the Cree language are a recurring topic of conversation in our communities as these have mostly been supplanted by English or French names. It is quite natural, in fact, to hear elderly monolingual speakers make use of the English or French names, often followed by the Cree ᐲᓯᒽ, meaning ‘month.’ There are a number of reasons for this, one of which is the variability from one community to another that complicates communication when the calendar is involved. This is largely because months are often named after seasonal phenomena that naturally vary from region to region. As a result, certain names that are common to multiple dialects may not always refer to the same month.
Below, you will find a comparison of the names of the months in six Cree dialects, those spoken at Attawapiskat (eastern Swampy Cree, an N-dialect), Moose Factory (Moose Cree, an L-dialect), Waskaganish (southern coastal East Cree, a Y-dialect), Waswanipi (southern inland East Cree, a Y-dialect), Opitciwan (Atikamekw, an R-dialect), and Pessamit (southern Innu-aimun, an L-dialect). The names will be spelled phonologically using syllabics to facilitate the comparison. It is important to recognize that only the first four dialects are officially written using syllabics. The others have adopted Latin script orthographies. Note that month names in Opitciwan are Cree adaptations of Anishinabe month names from the dialect spoken at Lac Simon.
January
| Attawapiskat | ᑭᔐ ᐸᐙᐦᑕᑭᓇᒽ |
| Moose Factory | ᑭᔐ ᐹᐦᐲᐙᐦᑕᑭᓇᒽ |
| Waskaganish | ᒪᑯᔐ ᒌᔑᑳᐤ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᐗᔭᐐᒪᑲᓄ ᐲᔑᒽ, ᑳ ᒋᓄᔑᑦ ᐲᔑᒽ (F) |
| Opitciwan | ᑫᓄᓯᑦ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Pessamit | ᒋᔐ ᐲᔑᒽ |
February
| Attawapiskat | ᑭᔐ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Moose Factory | ᑭᔐ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waskaganish | ᑳ ᑕᐦᑯᑯᒋᐦᒃ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᑳ ᑕᐦᑯᔑᑦ ᐲᔑᒽ |
| Opitciwan | ᐊᑯᐦᑲᒌᔥ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Pessamit | ᐁᐱᔑᒥᓂᔥᑴᐤ |
March
| Attawapiskat | ᒥᑭᓯᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Moose Factory | ᒥᑭᓯᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waskaganish | ᒥᒋᓯᐤ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᒥᒋᔑᐤ ᐲᔑᒽ, ᒥᑭᔑᐤ ᐲᔑᒽ |
| Opitciwan | ᓂᑭᑯ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Pessamit | ᐐᓇᔥᑯ ᐲᔑᒽ |
April
| Attawapiskat | ᓂᔅᑭ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Moose Factory | ᓂᔅᑭ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waskaganish | ᓂᔅᒋ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᔒᔒᐱ ᐲᔑᒽ, ᓂᔅᑭ ᐲᔑᒽ |
| Opitciwan | ᑳ ᐙᓯᐦᑯᑑᑦ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Pessamit | ᔒᔒᑉ ᐲᔑᒽ |
May
| Attawapiskat | ᐊᓃᑭ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Moose Factory | ᐊᓖᑭᔑ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waskaganish | ᐋᔑᒸᑯ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᒸᑯ ᐲᔑᒽ |
| Opitciwan | ᐙᐱᑯᓐ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Pessamit | ᓂᔅᓯ ᐲᔑᒽ |
June
| Attawapiskat | ᓵᑭᐸᑳᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Moose Factory | ᓵᑭᐸᑳᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waskaganish | ᒧᔖᐌᐦᔮᐤ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᐙᐱᑯᓐ ᐲᔑᒽ, ᔖᒋᐸᑳᐤ ᐲᔑᒽ, ᓇᒣᐤ ᐲᔑᒽ (F) |
| Opitciwan | ᐅᑌᐦᐃᒥᓐ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Pessamit | ᐙᐱᑯᓐ ᐲᔑᒽ |
July
| Attawapiskat | ᐅᐸᔥᑰᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Moose Factory | ᐅᐸᔥᑰᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ, ᐸᔥᑰᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waskaganish | ᐅᐸᔥᑰᐤ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᒣᒀ ᓃᐱᓄ ᐲᔑᒽ, ᐅᑌᐦᐃᒥᓐ ᐲᔑᒽ (F) |
| Opitciwan | ᒥᐦᑯᒥᓐ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Pessamit | ᔐᑖᓐ ᐲᔑᒽ |
August
| Attawapiskat | ᐅᐦᐸᐦᐆᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Moose Factory | ᐅᐦᐸᐦᐆᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waskaganish | ᒥᔕᑳᒣᐦᔮᐤ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᐊᑎᐦᑌᐎᒥᓐ ᐲᔑᒽ (F) |
| Opitciwan | ᐅᑕᐦᑕᐦᑯᓐ ᐲᓯᒻ |
| Pessamit | ᐅᐴ ᐲᔑᒽ |
September
| Attawapiskat | ᐌᐦᐌᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Moose Factory | ᐌᐦᐌᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waskaganish | ᐌᐦᐌᐤ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᐊᑎᐦᑲᒣᑯ ᐲᔑᒽ |
| Opitciwan | ᑳᑯᓀ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Pessamit | ᐅᔥᑰ ᐲᔑᒽ |
October
| Attawapiskat | ᐅᐱᒪᐦᐊᒧᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Moose Factory | ᐅᐱᒪᐦᐊᒧᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ, ᐱᒪᐦᐊᒧᐎ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waskaganish | ᐐᔖᑯ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᐱᓈᔅᒌᐤ ᐲᔑᒽ, ᐐᔖᑯ ᐲᔑᒽ |
| Opitciwan | ᓇᒣᑯᓯ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Pessamit | ᐙᔅᑌᔅᓰᐤ ᐲᔑᒽ |
November
| Attawapiskat | ᑲᔥᑲᑎᓂᓯᐤ |
| Moose Factory | ᑲᔥᑲᑎᓂᓯᐤ |
| Waskaganish | ᑲᔥᑲᑎᓐ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᒪᔥᑲᐗᑎᓄ ᐲᔑᒽ |
| Opitciwan | ᐊᑎᐦᑲᒣᑯ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Pessamit | ᑕᒀᒋ ᐲᔑᒽ |
December
| Attawapiskat | ᐸᐙᐦᑕᑭᓇᔑᔥ |
| Moose Factory | ᐲᐧᐋᐦᑕᑭᓇᒽ, ᐲᐙᐦᑕᑭᓇᔑᔥ, ᐹᐦᐲᐙᐦᑕᑭᓇᒽ, ᐹᐦᐲᐙᐦᑕᑭᓇᔑᔥ, ᒪᑯᔐ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waskaganish | ᐲᐦᒉᒪᑲᓄ ᐲᓯᒽ |
| Waswanipi | ᐲᐦᒉᒪᑲᓄ ᐲᔑᒽ, ᒪᑯᔐᒌᔑᑲᓐ ᐲᔑᒽ (F) |
| Opitciwan | ᐲᐦᒋ ᐱᐳᓐ |
| Pessamit | ᐲᔑᒧᔅᔅ |
Sources for the above are as follows: Attawapiskat, Angela Sheesheesh (Facebook post, 2020); Moose Factory, Dictionary of Moose Cree – 3rd edition (2019); Waskaganish, Annie Whiskeychan’s Lexicon (1973); Waswanipi, Waswanipi Realities and Adaptations: Resource Management and Cognitive Structure (Feit, 1978), Jane Saganash (2020), Allan Saganash (2020), Maggie Gull (2020), and Emma Sagansh (2020); Opitciwan, Atikamekw Morphology and Lexicon (Béland, 1978) & Dictionnaire atikamekw (online, 2020); and Pessamit, Dictionnaire français-montagnais (Drapeau, 1991).
Note that the Waswanipi is a mixed dialect transitioning towards Southern Inland East Cree. The speech of elders speakers of this dialect contains many features of the dialect directly to the south, that of Opitciwan. There are thus a variety of month names collected in this community. Terms followed by (F) were unknown to speakers consulted and are therefore only found in Feit, 1978.
Fieldwork in the six dialects undertaken by the author of this blog informs the above phonological spellings.
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