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How did the months of the year get their names? |
Time & Numbers
Certain parts of the world use different calendars, but the calendar you’re probably familiar with (beginning with January and ending with December) is used by lots of people and places around the world and is known as the “Gregorian calendar.” The special names for the 12 months in this calendar go back a few hundred years.
The English names for the months in the calendar come from the very old language of Latin. For example, months like September and October got their names from Latin numbers. “Septem” was the word for “seven” while “octo” was “eight”, and at the time that they were named, September was the seventh month and October was the eighth!
Although lots of changes have been made to the calendar since these names were first given, we still use them today!
Name game!
You might not know it, but the Latin language has given names to many things in your vocabulary!
You probably know, for example, that an octopus has eight legs. Now that you know “octo” means eight, do you think the octopus might have gotten its name for a specific reason…?? And what about special eight-sided shapes known as octagons? Do you think they have anything to do with the Latin root, too?
Ask a grown-up to help you investigate the origin of some other words you like. Try to use what you find out to figure out the origin of even more words you know!
