The unusual name "Veresen" is a word from the Ukrainian language. It is used to refer to one of the autumn months, and its origin is associated with natural phenomena.
Veresen is the Ukrainian name for the first autumn month, which in Russian is usually called September.
origin of name
It is customary to put stress in this word, which is unusual for the Russian ear, on the first syllable. At the same time, among the inhabitants of Ukraine, other variants of the pronunciation of this name are quite common - "verasen" and "vresen", which have a certain geographical area of distribution.
There are several main versions of the origin of this name, accepted among specialists in the field of Ukrainian linguistics. So, according to one of them, the name "Veresen" has a very long history of origin, which goes back to the period of Kievan Rus and uses at its root the ancient Slavic word "vreshchi". The modern interpretation of this word by etymologists suggests that in its content it is analogous to the word "thresh", that is, to process an ear of a grain crop, for example, wheat, rye or oats, in a certain way. As a result of this treatment, grains were knocked out of the spike, which then had to be ground and used as flour.
Another version of the origin of this name is associated with the word "heather" - the name of an evergreen shrub common in many regions of Ukraine. It is in September that the flowering period of this plant falls, which is also a good honey plant, that is, it is actively used in beekeeping to obtain honey. The fact is that heather blooms at a time when other plants, with the help of which beekeepers obtain honey, have already predominantly faded. Therefore, quite often honey collected in September is made on the basis of using only heather honey plant, therefore it is called "heather".
Name variations
Names similar to the term "Veresen" are used for September also in other Slavic languages. However, at the same time, they have their own specifics, including in pronunciation. So, for example, in the Belarusian language it is customary to call it "verasen", in Polish - wrzesień. In some regions of Russia, local dialects still use the name "Velesen", which is consonant with this word, which also denotes the first month of autumn.
It is noteworthy that the names of other autumn months in the Ukrainian language are closely related to various natural phenomena. So, to designate October, the name "zhovten" is used, which comes from the Ukrainian pronunciation of the verb "yellow" and reflects the period of wilting of foliage, and November in this language is usually called "leaf fall".
