Where do the months come from?

Question

I am stuck with a question and i was wondering if you coould help me. we are studying earth and the solar system and we have to answer questions. one is WHERE DO THE MONTHS COME FROM?

Answer 1

They come from...Roman times

Origin of the names of the months

Only a few names of the month were derived from Roman deities. Most simply came from the numbers of the months or -- in two cases -- in honor of Roman emperors.

January
Named after the Roman god of beginnings and endings Janus (the month Januarius).

February
The name comes either from the old-Italian god Februus or else from februa, signifying the festivals of purification celebrated in Rome during this month.

March
This is the first month of the Roman year. It is named after the Roman god of war, Mars.

April
Called Aprilis, from aperire, "to open". Possible because it is the month in which the buds begin to open.

May
The third month of the Roman calendar. The name probably comes from Maiesta, the Roman goddess of honor and reverence.

June
The fourth month was named in honor of Juno. However, the name might also come from iuniores (young men; juniors) as opposed to maiores (grown men; majors) for May, the two months being dedicated to young and old men.

July
It was the month in which Julius Caesar was born, and named Julius in his honor in 44 BCE, the year of his assassination. Also called Quintilis (fifth month).

August
Originally this month was called Sextilis (from sextus, "six"), but the name was later changed in honor of the first of the Roman emperors, Augustus (because several fortunate events of his life occurred during this month).

September
The name comes from septem, "seven".

October
The name comes from octo, "eight"

November
The name comes from novem, "nine".

December
The name comes from decem, "ten".

Answer 2

The word month comes from Moon. The time required by the Moon to revolve once around the Earth. The sydonic month, or the complete cycle of phases of the Moon as seen from the Earth, averages 29 and a half days (29.530588).

At first the Roman calendar had only 10 months. The first month was Mars after the Roman God of war. April from Aprilis (time of fertility) from aperire, meaning to open (flower buds). May for Maia, the Roman Goddess of growth. June was the fourth month, Juno, the Roman Queen of heaven, wife of Jupiter. The last six months were numbers: 5th month Quintilis, Latin for 5, but later changed to Julius, for Julius Caesar and then July; 6th month Sextilis, Latin for 6, but later changed to Augustus, for Augustus Caesar and then August; 7th Septem, Latin for 7; 8th Octo, Latin for 8; 9th Novem, Latin for 9; and finally Decem, Latin for 10, the 10th month.

The winter months were added later and Janus, Roman God of beginnings and ends, became the first month and Februa, a Roman festival, became the second month.

Makes it confusing, doesn't it?

Answer 3

The months are mainly all named after roman gods etc as in march is for Mars august is for Augustus and so on because we are currently using the Roman calendar!
The number of days in each month vary and the number of days in a year are 365 apart from a leap year when there are 366 and this is because the earth takes 365.25 days to revolve around the sun therefore to make things simple(!!!) we have one extra day every four years!
Hope this helps!

Answer 4

The very first months were lunar months (29 or 30 days); these were used as far back as the stone age.

Modern months are from the ancient Romans, about 713 BC. (That's the date from legend, more likely the months were not settled until 500 BC or so.) The names and number of days per month have changed a bit since then. Also, they used a leap month (called Mercedonius) instead of a leap day, until about 46 BC.

Answer 5

The months come from the Roman, the name of the months is in Romans.

Answer 6

The Roman gods

Answer 7

it's just a human invention
in French they did not have the same name pre and post revolution nor did the seasons
And I don't think they actually correponded to our months
Now the question would be how nearly the whole world agreed on the number of days per month!

Answer 8

The original Roman calendar had 10 months with 304 days in a year that began with the month of March.

JANUARY in Roman mythology, JANUS, the god of doors and gateways and beginnings (which the Romans believed brought good endings). A pretty good name to start the year!

FEBRUARY From FEBRUA, the Feast of Purification, celebrated in ancient Rome. It was not originally included in the Roman calendar which began with March.

MARCH From MARS . In Roman mythology, the god of war, one of the most important gods. Mars was regarded as the father of the Roman people.

APRIL From APRILIS, perhaps from the Greek Aphrodite or a pagan underworld goddess.

MAY Named after Maia, the Roman goddess of the spring.

JUNE In Roman mythology, Juno, queen of the gods and wife and sister of the god Jupiter. She was the protector of women and was worshipped under several names. One of them was Hera.

JULY From JULIUS CAESAR, born in Rome on July 12 or 13 in 100 BC. He was the Roman general and statesman who laid the foundations of the Roman imperial system. In 44 BC he changed the name of the month Quintillis to Julius, after himself. The following year he decided (based on the advice of an astronomer) to use a purely solar calendar with 365 days. This calendar is known as the Julian calendar in his name.

AUGUST From AUGUSTUS CAESAR, born in 63 BC and died in 14 AD. He was the emperor of Rome from 27 BC until his death. He restored unity and orderly government to the empire after nearly a 100 years of civil wars. The month Sextillis was renamed Augustus after him in 45 BC.

SEPTEMBER From the Latin word SEPTEM meaning 7.

OCTOBER From the Latin word OCTO meaning 8.

NOVEMBER From the Latin word NOVEM meaning 9.

DECEMBER From the the Latin word DECEM meaning 10.

Answer 9

Hi. They started out as 'moonths', the time from one full moon to the next. The names were described correctly by your earlier answers.

Answer 10

Study up on the Gregorian calendar.