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An almanac (also spelled almanack and almanach) is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' sowing dates, , and other tabular data often arranged according to the calendar. Celestial figures and various statistics are found in almanacs, such as the sunrise and sunset times of the Sun and Moon, dates of , hours of high and low , and religious festivals. The set of events noted in an almanac may be tailored for a specific group of readers, such as farmers, sailors, or astronomers.
It has been suggested that the word almanac derives from a Greek language word meaning calendar. However, that word appears only once in antiquity, by Eusebius who quotes Porphyry as to the Coptic Egyptian use of astrological charts ( almenichiaká). The earliest almanacs were calendars that included agricultural, astronomical, or meteorological data. But it is highly unlikely Roger Bacon received the word from this etymology: "Notwithstanding the suggestive sound and use of this word (of which however the real form is very uncertain), the difficulties of connecting it historically either with the Spanish Arabic manākh, or with Medieval Latin italic=no without Arabic intermediation, seem insurmountable."Oxford English Dictionary
One etymology report says "The ultimate source of the word is obscure. Its first syllable, al-, and its general relevance to medieval science and technology, strongly suggest an Arabic origin, but no convincing candidate has been found". Ernest Weekley similarly states of almanac: "First seen in Roger Bacon. Apparently from Spanish Arabic, al-manakh, but this is not an Arabic word....The word remains a puzzle." Walter William Skeat concludes that the construction of an Arabic origin is "not satisfactory". The Oxford English Dictionary similarly says "the word has no etymon in Arabic" but indirect circumstantial evidence "points to a Spanish Arabic al-manākh"."Almanac" in New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (which has an extra "note as to the origin and history of the word almanac"). The Oxford Dictionary of English says that the word origin is "via Old French and medieval Latin from Spanish Arabic al-manāk ('the calendar')".
The reason why the proposed Arabic word is speculatively spelled al-manākh is that the spelling occurred as "almanach", as well as almanac (and Roger Bacon used both spellings). The earliest use of the word was in the context of astronomy calendars. The Arabic word المناخ has different meanings in contemporary Arabic than in classical Arabic usage. The word originally meant "the place where camels kneel so". In contemporary Arabic, the word means "climate".
The prestige of the Tables of Toledo and other medieval Arabic astronomy works at the time of the word's emergence in the West, together with the absence of the word in Arabic, suggest it may have been invented in the West and is pseudo-Arabic. At that time in the West, it would have been prestigious to attach an Arabic appellation to a set of astronomical tables. Also around that time, prompted by that motive, the Latin writer Pseudo-Geber wrote under an Arabic pseudonym. (The later alchemical word alkahest is known to be pseudo-Arabic.)
The Greek almanac, known as parapegma, has existed in the form of an inscribed stone on which the days of the month were indicated by movable pegs inserted into bored holes, hence the name. There were also written texts and according to Diogenes Laërtius, Parapegma was the title of a book by Democritus.Lehoux D., Parapegmata, Astrology, Weather, and Calendars in the Ancient World (thesis), National Library of Canada, 2000; includes a list of surviving parapegmata (plural of 'parapegma') and bibliography. Ptolemy, the astronomer (2nd century) wrote a treatise, Phaseis—"phases of fixed stars and collection of weather-changes" is the translation of its full title—the core of which is a parapegma, a list of dates of seasonally regular weather changes, first appearances and last appearances of or at sunrise or sunset, and solar events such as , all organized according to the solar year. With the astronomical computations were expected weather phenomena, composed as a digest of observations made by various authorities of the past. Parapegmata had been composed for centuries. Ptolemy believed that astronomical phenomena caused the changes in seasonal weather; his explanation of why there was not an exact correlation of these events was that the physical influences of other heavenly bodies also came into play. Hence for him, weather prediction was a special division of astrology.
Surviving Roman menologia rustica combined schedules of solar information and agricultural activities throughout the year with the months' tutelary deities and Roman festivals. By the Roman Empire, each month was headed with illustrations of its chief astrological signs, matching Roman geoponici that often combined guidance for the proper conditions for different activities with the stars present during that period rather than using the Roman calendar.
The modern almanac differs from Babylonian, Ptolemaic and Zij tables in the sense that "the entries found in the almanacs give directly the positions of the celestial bodies and need no further computation", in contrast to the more common "auxiliary astronomical tables" based on Ptolemy's Almagest. The earliest known almanac in this modern sense is the Almanac of Azarqueil written in 1088 by Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Latinized as Arzachel) in Toledo, al-Andalus. The work provided the true daily positions of the sun, moon and planets for four years from 1088 to 1092, as well as many other related tables. A Latin translation and adaptation of the work appeared as the Tables of Toledo in the 12th century and the Alfonsine tables in the 13th century.
Works that satirized this type of publication appeared in the late 1500s. During the next century, a writer using the pseudonym of "Poor Richard, Knight of the Burnt Island" began to publish a series of such parodies that were entitled Poor Robin. The 1664 issue of the series stated: "This month we may expect to hear of the Death of some Man, Woman, or Child, either in Kent or Christendom."
Nathaniel Ames of Dedham, Massachusetts, issued his popular Astronomical Diary and Almanack in 1725 and annually after . James Franklin published The Rhode Island Almanack by "Poor Robin" for each year from 1728 to 1735.(1)
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James' brother, Benjamin Franklin, published his annual Poor Richard's Almanack in Philadelphia from 1732 to 1758.
Samuel Stearns of Paxton, Massachusetts, issued the North-American Almanack, published annually from 1771 to 1784, as well as the first American nautical almanac, The Navigator's Kalendar, or Nautical Almanack, for 1783. Andrew Ellicott of Ellicott's Upper Mills, Maryland, authored a series of almanacs, The United States Almanack, the earliest known copy of which bears the date of 1782. Benjamin Banneker, a free African American living near Ellicott's Mills, composed a series of almanacs for the years of 1792 to 1797.
Major topics covered by almanacs (reflected by their tables of contents) include: geography, government, demographics, agriculture, economics and business, health and medicine, religion, mass media, transportation, science and technology, sport, and /.
Other examples include The Almanac of American Politics published by Columbia Books & Information Services, The Almanac of British Politics, the Wapsipinicon Almanac, and the Calendari dels Pagesos, a Catalan-language almanac published in Catalonia since 1861.La Vanguardia, 27/12/2010, El 'Calendari dels Pagesos' cumple 150 años de publicación ininterrumpida, y una muestra cuenta su historia en el Museu Etnològic de Barcelona
The GPS Almanac, as part of the data transmitted by each GPS satellite, contains coarse orbit and status information for all satellites in the constellation, an ionospheric model, and information to relate GPS derived time to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Hence the GPS almanac provides a similar goal as the ancient Babylonian almanac, to find celestial bodies.
National Geographic Kids annually publishes a series of books titled "Almanac" (e.g. "Almanac 2025"), which typically contain information on animals, science and technology, and the natural world, among other things.
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