| E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898. |
| | | Al’manac | | |
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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 |
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| Before printing, or before it was common: | |
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| 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| Stamp duty imposéd 1710, repealed 1834. | |
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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 |
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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. | 3 |
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