Sothic year

noun

1. the fixed year of the ancient Egyptians, determined by the heliacal rising of Sirius, and equivalent to 365 days.

Sothic year

noun

1. the fixed year of the ancient Egyptians, 365 days 6 hours long, beginning with the appearance of the star Sirius on the eastern horizon at dawn, which heralded the yearly flooding of the Nile. A Sothic cycle contained 1460 such years

Word History and Origins

Origin of Sothic year¹

First recorded in 1820–30; Soth(is) + -ic

Example Sentences

Sothic, sō′thik, adj. of or pertaining to the dog-star Sothis or Sirius.—Sothic cycle, or period, a period of 1460 years; Sothic year, the ancient Egyptian fixed year, according to the heliacal rising of Sirius.

From Project Gutenberg

This “Sothic period” or era of 1460 years, during which the Egyptian New Year’s day travelled all round the Sothic year, is recorded by Greek and Roman writers at least as early as the 1st century b.c.

From Project Gutenberg

Whether any earlier attempt was made to adjust the civil to the solar or Sothic year in order to restore the festivals to their proper places in the seasons temporarily or otherwise, is a question of great importance for chronology, but at present it remains unanswered.

From Project Gutenberg

Besides this solar year they had a sideral or sothic year, composed of 365 days and 6 hours, which corresponds exactly to the Mayas sacred year, that Landa tells us was also composed of 365 days and 6 hours; which they represented in the gnomon of Mayapan by the line that joins the centers of the stela that forms it.

From Project Gutenberg