Origin of the names of the months
Have you ever wondered how the months got their names? I did it and this is what I learnt. Crash course of calendar history ... To understand the origin, the etymology of these names, we have first to refer to Latin and to Roman culture. Indeed Latin names of months haven't changed since 8 AD! I will happily omit all changes, over the centuries, in the definition of months, I will consider only the names. If you want to know more, please check references. Let's start! In Latin, the 12 Julian (and Gregorian ) months are: Ianuarius Februarius Martius Aprilis Maius Iunis Iulius (formerly Quintilis ) Augustus (formerly Sextilis ) September October November December as you see, many of them sound quite familiar to their English, German or Italian versions! At the beginning, there was the Ancient Roman calendar, introduced in 753 BC, according to tradition, by Romulus , the founder of ROME. It had only 30...