wp-rnpt

Etymology
in a direct genitive construction, thus literally ‘opening of the year’.

Proper noun

 * 1) ‘New Year’s Day’: a festival day at the start of the Egyptian year, the first day of the first month of, originally aligned to the heliacal rising of Sirius in summer
 * 2) the festival day of the king’s birthday
 * 3) a month of the year, apparently the last, corresponding to, the fourth month of

Usage notes
There is some debate over the exact nature of the various calendars used in ancient Egypt. While was synonymous with the last month according to the later ‘civil calendar’, some Egyptologists argue that it was the first month in earlier calendrical systems. Various hypotheses, generally involving the interplay between multiple calendars, have been put forward to explain why the festival of occurs after the month of the same name instead of during it, but conclusions remain uncertain.