Why don't we capitalize the names of the seasons?

Question

In English, proper nouns are capitalized. The names of the days of the week and the months of the year all are capitalized, but not the names of the seasons, why?

Also, does anyone know the origin of the silent "N" in autumn?

Atomic Gel,

Your ignorance is even greater than you arrogance! Quite a feat!

We DO NOT capitalize the names of seasons. Check any grammar book or website such as:

http://wps.ablongman.com/long_longman_ohb_1/0,10005,1798020-content,00.html

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/capitals.htm

So who's the "numnut" ?

Answer 1

Nouns referring to things like seasons are capitalized or not based on pretty much pure chance, I think. We capitalize days of the week and month names, but in Spanish they don't even do that. I'm not sure these would technically be considered proper nouns anyway, since they do not refer to an actual object, but a generally-agreed upon standard for naming of time. You might as well ask why "noon" and "midnight" are not capitalized. The answer is the same, they're just not by convention.

As for the silent "N", that's easy - "autumn" comes from the Latin word "autumnus", as in the sentence "Autumnus est unus ex quattuor temporibus anni, tempus inter aestatem et hiemem." ("Autumn is one of the 4 seasons of the year, a season between summer and winter.") The Latin word is IIRC related to the idea of harvesting.

Now, in Latin the syllables went au-TUM-nus. But most Latin words lost their "us" endings, so only "AU-tumn" was left ... and since "m" and "n" sound pretty similar and it's a lot easier to say "autum" than to say "autumN", the N just became silent.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Why don't we capitalize the names of the seasons?
In English, proper nouns are capitalized. The names of the days of the week and the months of the year all are capitalized, but not the names of the seasons, why?

Also, does anyone know the origin of the silent "N" in autumn?

Answer 3

Are Seasons Capitalized

Answer 4

This is an interesting question. These are definitely proper nouns indicating the seasons of the year. The days of the week are named after ancient Norse gods and the sun and moon, so as proper nouns and names of gods (the sun and moon were considered gods), they are capitalized. This is also true of the months. As for the seasons, it's a matter of usage. Many people DO capitalize the names of seasons for consistency. As for the "n" in "autumn," this has been explained because of the difficulty of pronouncing the "mn" combination together, but it remains in words relating to autumn, like "autumnal."

I'm also giving you a star for this question.

Answer 5

Interesting. I always do use caps for seasons. We were taught to in school in the UK in the 70's and 80's anyway.
As far as the silent "n" in Autumn.... I believe it has come about due to laziness in pronunciation rather than an actual grammatical rule. It's just easier to silence the "n". However, you can hear it loud and clear when used in the word "Autumnal".

Good question. Hope I didn't get the answers completely wrong. Forgive me if I did. I am getting old. :P

Answer 6

Someone suggested to me that we capitalise the months because they are named after 'gods'. And seasons aren't. Still, if I was in control of English grammar I'd capitalise them.

Answer 7

The silent N in autumn is oringially from Old English... like the U in colour.... we took that out, but I guess left the N in autumn. Besides, in the states most people call it fall, not autumn.

And we dont capitalize it because summer, spring, fall, and winter are not proper nouns. They are actually considered descriptive words to describe the weather during a specific period of the year. If you want to capitalize it, you need to call it by its proper name, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Fall Equinox, Winter Solstice.

Answer 8

The factual language, including, of course, its prononciation and it's writing is ever changing. Look back an old dictionnary and you see words not in use anymore. Now we have new words accepted in the English language. Why are there changes? Because the language is alive and as we go the language goes.