As we move from September into October I finally asked myself why the months named after 7 and 8 are actually the ninth and tenth months.

Were there originally 10 months?

My government school education never taught me this, so I’ll share in case anyone else is unaware…

The Roman calendar, a complicated lunar calendar, had 12 months like our current calendar, but only 10 of the months had formal names. Basically, winter was a “dead” period when the government and military weren’t active, so they only had names for the time we think of as March through December.

March (Martius) was named for Mars, the god of war, because this was the month when active military campaigns resumed. May (Maius) and June (Junius) were also named for goddesses: Maia and Juno. April (Aprilis) is thought to stem from the Latin aperio, meaning “to open”—a reference to the opening buds of springtime. The rest of the months were numbered; their original names in Latin meant the fifth (Quintilis), sixth (Sextilis), seventh (September), eighth (October), ninth (November), and tenth (December) month.

Eventually, January (Januarius) and February (Februarius) were added to the end of the year, giving all 12 months proper names. January was named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and transitions. February’s name is believed to stem from Februa, an ancient festival dedicated to ritual springtime cleaning and washing.

Julian Calendar Updates:

When Julius Caesar became Pontifex Maximus, he reformed the Roman calendar so that the 12 months were based on Earth’s revolutions around the Sun. It was a solar calendar, as we have today. January and February were moved to the front of the year, and leap years were introduced to keep the calendar year lined up with the solar yearThe winter months (January and February) remained a time of reflection, peace, new beginnings, and purification. After Caesar’s death, the month Quintilis was renamed July in honor of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and later, Sextilis was renamed August in honor of Roman Emperor Augustus in 8 BC.

Of course, all the renaming and reorganizing meant that some of the months’ names no longer agreed with their position in the calendar (September to December, for example). Later emperors tried to name various months after themselves, but those changes did not outlive them!

Little bonus TIL is the origin of the names of the days which are somewhat obvious especially if you speak any of the Romance languages..

In Saxon:

1. Sunnandaeg (Sun’s day. Day of Sun)

2. Monandaeg (Moon’s day. Day of Moon.)

3. Tiwesdaeg (Tiw’s day. Tiw was an Anglo-Saxon god of war.)

4. Wodnesdaeg (Woden was the Anglo-Saxon king of the gods.)

5. Thursdaeg (Thor’s day. Thor was a Norse god of thunder, lightning, and storms.)

6. Frigedaeg (Frigga’s day. Frigg was a Norse goddess of home, marriage, and fertility.)

7. Saeterndaeg (Saturn’s day. Saturn was an ancient Roman god of fun and feasting.

In Latin:

1. Dies Solis, "day of the Sun"

2. Dies Lunae, "day of the Moon"

3. Dies Martis, "day of Mars" (Roman god of war)

4. Dies Mercurii, "day of Mercury" (Roman messenger of the gods and god of commerce, travel, thievery, eloquence, and science.)

5. Dies Iovis, "day of Jupiter" (Roman god who created thunder and lightning; patron of the  Roman state)

6. Dies Veneris, "day of Venus" (Roman goddess of love and beauty)

7. Dies Saturni, "day of Saturn" (Roman god of agriculture)

I guess I have been subconsciously thinking about the #RomanEmpire 😂

#grownostr #TIL #history