Why do we use September (after the number seven), October (eight), November (nine) and December (ten) when we are at 9?e10e11e and 12e months of the year ?
Gilles De Gagne
Because the Roman calendar originally started on the 1ster March.
“The Romans started the year on the 1ster March,” says Dwayne Meisner, a classicist at the University of Regina who published a study on the subject in 2009 in the journal Past Imperfect. “It’s a bit like the first clocks. The hours were counted from morning until evening, without taking into account the night. The early Romans began the year when spring returned to Rome, and did not take winter into account. »
September, October, November and December were therefore the 7e8e9e and 10e months of the year. “Besides, July was called “quintus” and August, “sextus”. » July was ultimately named in honor of Julius Caesar, who died in 44 BC, and August in honor of Augustus, who transformed the Roman Republic into an empire in 27 BC. AD
This habit probably came from the Etruscans, according to Meisner. These are a people who controlled north-central Italy in the 7the and VIe centuries before our era. Its writing has not yet been deciphered, limiting knowledge about it, including its calendar.
Shortly before the Roman Republic (509 BC), the months of January and February were added.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF REGINA WEBSITE
Dwayne Meisner, classicist at the University of Regina
To respect the solar calendar, with two equinoxes and two solstices, it was necessary to add an intercalary month after December. It quickly became obvious that 12 months were needed and not 10, and therefore add two months after the end of the year in December.
Dwayne Meisner, classicist at the University of Regina
The Romans, however, insisted on keeping the festivals at the beginning of March, their ancient beginning of the year. “So they made February a month with 28 days. The Romans held very dear the traditions of their ancestors, mos majorum in Latin. “
Leap years
This 365-day calendar held up until Julius Caesar. “He consulted Greek and Egyptian astronomers and decided to reconcile the calendar with the solar year,” says Mr. Meisner. The year 46 BC BC lasted 445 days and after that there were leap years, with 29 days in February. But again, Caesar was very careful not to disrupt the liturgical calendar with his celebrations at the beginning of March. »
Caesar was assassinated on March 15, a holiday dedicated to the god of spring and war, Mars.
Then, it was not until Pope Gregory XIII’s Gregorian calendar in 1582 that a new modification to the Roman calendar was introduced. Julius Caesar’s “Julian” calendar was not exactly synchronized with the solar calendar. In particular, the Gregorian calendar introduced non-leap years in years that were multiples of 100 and were not divisible by 400 (i.e. 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300, and so on).
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- Number of days subtracted from October 1582 by the reform of the Gregorian calendar to adjust it to the solar calendar