E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Al’manac
is the Arabic al manac (the diary). Verstegen says it is the Saxon al-mon-aght (all moon heed), and that it refers to the tallies of the full and new moons kept by our Saxon ancestors. One of these tallies may still be seen at St. John’s College, Cambridge.
1
Before printing, or before it was common:
By Solomon Jarchi
in and after 1150
” Peter de Dacia
about 1300
” Walter de Elvendene
1327
” John Somers, Oxford
1380 ! !
” Nicholas de Lynna
1386
” Purbach
1150–1401
First printed by Gutenberg, at Mentz
1457
By Regiomontanus, at Nuremberg
1472–3
” Zainer, at Ulm
1478
” Richard Pynson (Sheapeheard’s Kalendar)
1497 ! !
” Stöffler, in Venice
1499
” Poor Robin’s Almanack
1652
” Francis Moore’s Almanack between
1698 and 1713
Stamp duty imposéd 1710, repealed 1834.
The Man i’ the Almanac stuck with pins (Nat. Lee), is a man marked with points referring to signs of the zodiac, and intended to indicate the favourable and unfavourable times of letting blood.
2
I shan’t consult your almanac (French), I shall not come to you to know what weather to expect. The reference is to the prognostications of weather in almanacs.
