Rosenmontag

German

Etymology

From West Central German dialects. Analysable as Rose (“rose”) +‎ Montag (“Monday”), but originally probably equivalent to standard German rasender Montag (“mad, frantic, frenetic Monday”). The forms Rosen (“roses”) and rasen (“to rush, rage, be frantic”) merge in some dialects, e.g. in the Palatinate. Dialects that do maintain a distinction, however, generally use the word for “rose” (compare Central Franconian Rusemondaach), meaning that the reinterpretation must be rather old.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

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Noun

Rosenmontag m (strong, genitive Rosenmontages or Rosenmontags, plural Rosenmontage)

1. Rosenmontag, Collop Monday, Rose Monday, Merry Monday, Hall Monday (the Monday before Ash Wednesday, highlight of the German carnival season)

Declension

Declension of Rosenmontag [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Rosenmontag	die	Rosenmontage
genitive	eines	des	Rosenmontages, Rosenmontags	der	Rosenmontage
dative	einem	dem	Rosenmontag, Rosenmontage1	den	Rosenmontagen
accusative	einen	den	Rosenmontag	die	Rosenmontage

¹Now rare, see notes.

See also

• Karneval
• Fasching
• Fastnacht