The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sothiac
Sothiac \So"thi*ac\, Sothic \Soth"ic\, a. Of or pertaining to Sothis, the Egyptian name for the Dog Star; taking its name from the Dog Star; canicular.
Sothiac year, or Sothic year (Chronol.), the Egyptian year of 365 days and 6 hours, as distinguished from the Egyptian vague year, which contained 365 days. The Sothic period consists of 1,460 Sothic years, being equal to 1,461 vague years. One of these periods ended in July, a. d. 139.
Usage examples of "sothiac".
Nile, was selected by the Egyptians as the beginning of a year which they called the Year of God, and of the Sothiac Period, or the period of Sothis, the Dog-Star, who, rising in the morning, fixed that epoch, so important to the people of Egypt.