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Setiembre is only used in Peru, AFAIK, but I wonder if there are any other countries where setiembre, as opposed to septiembre, is also valid.

RAE links the definition of setiembre to the definition of septiembre but offers no further details as to whether setiembre has always been a valid word or whether it's only used in Peru.

JoulSauron
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Icarus
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    Well firstly, the names of months are not capitalized in Spanish, unlike English. So the choice is between "septiembre" or "setiembre". – hippietrail Dec 26 '11 at 20:08
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    Aguante setiembre! Acá siempre se usó en no soy peruano. Soy uruguayo... Que venga setiembre bo! –  Sep 03 '13 at 00:19
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    En Uruguay tambien se usa Setiembre en lugar de Septiembre. –  Sep 13 '13 at 20:42
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    Curioso...primera vez que veo setiembre, todos los dias se aprende algo – Emilio Gort Feb 09 '14 at 04:08
  • Before any who are unsure of their Spanish start thinking that saying "setiembre" is vulgar (in the English sense) and wonder what on earth it might mean, note that the "translator" fell into the clutches of a false friend. He should have said "common". –  Jul 18 '14 at 17:12
  • Catalan = Setembre Castilian = Septiembre –  Sep 25 '15 at 03:34

6 Answers6

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The Septiembre's entry on Diccionario Panhispánico de dudas says both forms are valid, but the preferred one is Septiembre:

(...) pero en el uso culto se prefiere decididamente la forma etimológica septiembre.

dusan
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    As a side note, I myself prefer to keep the "p" as in séptimo (seventh), since it comes from latin septimus (although now it is not anymore the seventh month of the year but the ninth). – Lucas Sep 30 '14 at 14:36
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Me gustaría añadir algo más. A pesar de que Setiembre está aceptado por la RAE, en España (al menos en la región de Valencia) se considera el uso de Setiembre como vulgar y a menudo se hacen bromas sobre este término desde que la RAE lo incluyó.

I'd like to add something else. Althought Setiembre is accepted by the RAE, in Spain (at least in the Valencia area) it's considered that Setiembre is really vulgar and there are many jokes about this term since the RAE appended it.

Francisco Presencia
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  • It may be related with the fact that in Catalan they say Setembre, so it can be a sign of using the Catalan form instead of the Spanish one. – fedorqui Sep 30 '14 at 14:53
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In Uruguay "setiembre" is more used than "septimbre". Even calendars and street names are written "setiembre".

sofi
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"Setiembre" is valid everywhere, recently RAE made valid lots of eliminations of hard-to-pronounce double consonants (sétimo for séptimo, sicología instead of psicología, but funnily enough, psique cannot be written as sique).

alex
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    I've been hearing "setiembre" for as long as I can remember on Peruvian TV. I sort of even recall reading a Mario Vargas Llosa article in El País using it as well. Jaime Baily -a well known TV figure and (mediocre) writer- definitely uses it. I wonder when RAE will start accepting "dotor" (doctor), "helicótero"(helicóptero), etc. which is rather common amongst people with low scholarity. "Haiga" -instead of haya- and "encandelillar" -instead of encandilar- are apparently also accepted. – Icarus Dec 27 '11 at 10:44
  • +1 to Icarus for "dotor" and "helicótero" :) – Rodrigo A. Pérez Sep 03 '13 at 03:12
  • Bayly is far from being a mediocre writer. – hmartinezd Feb 09 '14 at 03:55
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    @Icarus: RAE accepts the relaxation of some sounds when speaking, but writing is a different thing. So you can relax the p before another consonant, but in writing it is still helicóptero, concepto and the like. When a generalization of the written form is observed, then RAE tends to accept it, though still preferring the original form. And, by the way, haiga instead of haya is not accepted at all. – Gorpik Jul 21 '14 at 08:12
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In Argentina, Setiembre is accepted, but Septiembre is far more popular.

Maria Ines Parnisari
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In Costa Rica we use Setiembre and Septiembre as well.

Diego
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user5708
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