The Calendar Months

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20953, 4 November 1939, Page 19 (Supplement)

The Calendar Months

In ancient Rome it was the custom of the pontifex mximus to proclaim (calare) the month on the day of the new moon and announce the festivals for that month. Our word “ calendar ” comes from calendae, meaning the first day of the Roman month. These months being strictly and literally lunar months, it is not surprising that our word “ month ” derived from ancient forms of the T/ord “ moon.” In the calendar as we have it today, the first month of the year is called January. The name is derived from Janus, a figure in Roman mythology, who presided over all beginnings. He was represented as having two faces—one looking forward and the other back—symbolical of thoughts of the past and of the future. February is from the Latin Februarius, meaning “to purify,” and had its origin in the Roman festivals of the Lupercalia. March was named for Mars, the god of war. April from the Latin aprilis, meaning “ to open,” and the month ushers in spring, the season of opening buds. May is from Maia, the mythological figure symbolising growth. June is from Junius, a Roman gens or clan. July and August were named by and after the Caesars, Julius and Augustus, respectively. The remaining months derived their names from the position they held in the calendar as it was before the revision by Julius Caesar. The earliest Roman calendar had but ten months: Maritus, Aprillis. Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, Actober, November, and December. From this we see that while today September is the ninth month, in the early Roman calendar it was the seventh and got its name from the Latin septem. meaning “ seven.” October was the eighth month, and Octo is Latin for “ eight ”; November, the ninth Roman month, comes from riovem, “ nine and December, which was the tenth month, is derived from deeem, Latin for “ ten.”