How did the 12 months of the year get their names?
The months are named after a combination of rulers, numbers and gods.
EVER wondered how the 12 months that make up a year got their names?
While various religions and peoples have had (and some still do) different names for their months, the most commonly used is the Gregorian calendar, from ancient Romans times.
JANUARY: It is generally believed to have have been named after the Roman god Janus (usually depicted as having two faces looking in opposite directions), who presided over doors and beginnings.
FEBRUARY: This one is based on the Latin februarius, from februa.
MARCH: Named after Mars, a god of war. Same god who got a planet named after him as well.
APRIL: The English word April would appear to derive from the Latin Aprillis, the fourth month of the ancient Roman calendar.
MAY: Named after the goddess Maia, who, in Greek mythology was the daughter of Atlas and Hermes.
JUNE: Named after the ancient Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and goddess of marriage and childbirth.
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JULY: July was named in honour of Julius Caesar after his death in 44 BC, with July being the month of his birth. Before it was renamed, the month was known as Quintilis (fifth).
AUGUST: In 8 BC, the month Sextilis (‘sixth’) was renamed after Augustus, the first Roman emperor, who had died six years earlier.
SEPTEMBER: September follows on from Quinitlis and Sextilis, in that it comes from the Latin septem, ‘seven’. But from this point on the numbering is a out of sync. September was originally the seventh month in an ancient Roman ten-month calendar, which started with March.
OCTOBER: Octo is the Latin for ‘eight’, for that ten month calendar. Two months were added to the end of the calendar year around 713 BC, and the beginning of the year was moved to 1 January in 153 BC.
NOVEMBER: It comes from novem, ‘nine’.
DECEMBER: The year rounds off with December, from decem, ‘ten’.
(Sources: OxfordWords blog posts, Wikipedia and Oxford English Dictionary).
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