The World of Words: Vocabulary for College Success ... - eLibrary

272 Chapter 9 Word Elements: Numbers and MeasuresDid You Know?How Were the Months of the Year Named?Setting up the calendar we now use was not an easy task. Ancient calendarswere so inaccurate that people sometimes found themselves plantingcrops when the calendar claimed that winter was approaching. For thisreason, the Roman leader Julius Caesar ordered a calendar reform abouttwo thousand years ago. That is why our months have Latin names. Therehave been other changes, but even now the calendar is not perfect. Wemust adjust the length of our years by adding an extra day (February 29)in every fourth, or leap, year. Here’s how the months were named:January gets its name from the Roman god Janus, the god of doorsand gates. Since doors are used to enter, Janus represented beginnings,and the first month of the year is dedicated to him. Janus is usually picturedwith two faces; one might be said to look back to the past year, and onelooks forward to the next.February comes from Februa, the Roman festival of purification.March is named for Mars, the Roman god of war. April has an uncertainorigin. It may be from apero, which means “second,” for at one time it wasthe second month of the year, or from aperīre (to open) since it is the monthwhen flowers and trees open out in bloom. May comes from the goddessof fertility, Maia. It was natural to name a spring month for the goddesswho was thought to control the crops.June was named either for the Junius family of Roman nobles or forthe goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter. Julius Caesar named the month of Julyafter himself. August is named for Augustus Caesar, the nephew of Juliusand the first emperor of Rome. His actual name was Octavian, but he tookthe title of Augustus because it meant “distinguished.” The word auguststill means “distinguished” when the second syllable of the word isstressed.The last four months all contain number prefixes: September, sept-(seven); October, oct- (eight); November, nov- (nine); December, dec- (ten).As you can see, prefixes are wrong!How did the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months get theelements of seven, eight, nine, and ten? Until 153 BCE the new year wascelebrated in March, so the months corresponded to the correct numbers.Then a change in the calendar left these months with misleadingmeanings.Links to the a history of the calendar can be found through the StudentCompanion Website at www.cengage.com/devenglish/richek8e.Copyright © Cengage Learning. All Right Reserved.