[comp.text] Month Names

pjt@vim.ARPA (Paul J. Tanenbaum ) (09/01/88)

In article <Aug.30.20.59.53.1988.20134@topaz.rutgers.edu> linhart@topaz.rutgers.edu.UUCP (D-ro 3.) writes:
>have a regular job.  Four month names are number forms, anyway (and
>misleading, too, since January and February were inserted).

     No, it's July and August that were added--by Julius Caesar and Augustus,
respectively--and that squeezed 7ember, 8ober, 9ember, and 10ember out of their
original positions.
     +++paul

     pjt@brl.mil

dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) (09/01/88)

In article <564@vim.ARPA> pjt@brl.arpa (Paul J. Tanenbaum (VLD/GSB) <pjt>) writes:
 > In article <Aug.30.20.59.53.1988.20134@topaz.rutgers.edu> linhart@topaz.rutgers.edu.UUCP (D-ro 3.) writes:
 > >have a regular job.  Four month names are number forms, anyway (and
 > >misleading, too, since January and February were inserted).
 > 
 >      No, it's July and August that were added--by Julius Caesar and Augustus,
 > respectively--and that squeezed 7ember, 8ober, 9ember, and 10ember out of their
 > original positions.
Nope.
July and Augustus had their names changed.  The original names were Quintilis
and Sextilis.
Nor were January and February squeezed in; they were moved from 11th and 12th
position to 1st and 2nd (that is why the additional day in leap years is in
February).  There are references to the older names of Undecember and
Dodecember for these months.
-- 
dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland
INTERNET   : dik@cwi.nl
BITNET/EARN: dik@mcvax

rjh@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Herber) (09/02/88)

>In article <Aug.30.20.59.53.1988.20134@topaz.rutgers.edu> linhart@topaz.rutgers.edu.UUCP (D-ro 3.) writes:
>>have a regular job.  Four month names are number forms, anyway (and
>>misleading, too, since January and February were inserted).
>
>     No, it's July and August that were added--by Julius Caesar and Augustus,
>respectively--and that squeezed 7ember, 8ober, 9ember, and 10ember out of their
>original positions.
>     +++paul
>
>     pjt@brl.mil

No months were added. July is the *renamed* 5ember (to use the previous model) and
August is the *renamed* 6ember. The change was that in Roman calendars the year
started in March, when elected officals took office. This is also why January is
named after Janus, the two faced god; and February is the month that receives the
leap day in a leap year, it put the leap day at the end of the year.

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