Have you ever wondered why August is called August? And why September, whose name seems connected to the number seven, is actually the ninth month of the year? Behind the names we use every day lies a story stretching back more than two thousand years, involving emperors, Roman gods and changes to the calendar.
To understand the origin of the name August, we need to travel back to ancient Rome.
Table of Contents
- Why is August called August?
- Before Augustus came Julius Caesar
- Why isn’t September the seventh month?
- Where do the other month names come from?
- From the Roman to the Gregorian calendar
- Did Augustus take a day from February?
- Month names are fragments of history
Why is August called August?
August takes its name from Augustus, the title given in 27 BC to Gaius Octavius, who is generally considered Rome’s first emperor. The Latin word Augustus carried a solemn meaning, similar to “venerable” or “majestic.”
The month originally had another name: Sextilis, meaning “sixth month,” because the early Roman year began in March. When the calendar changed, Sextilis became the eighth month but initially retained its old name.
In 8 BC, it was renamed Augustus in honour of the emperor. So the month we now associate with summer holidays still carries the name of a ruler from ancient Rome.
Before Augustus came Julius Caesar
July also commemorates an important Roman figure. It was originally called Quintilis, meaning the fifth month, but in 44 BC it was renamed Julius in honour of Julius Caesar.
Caesar also played an essential role in the history of timekeeping. His reform produced the Julian calendar, which came into use in 45 BC. Whenever we say July and August, therefore, we are still using the names of two major figures from Roman history.
Why isn’t September the seventh month?
September comes from the Latin septem, meaning seven. So why is it the ninth month?
The answer lies in the Roman calendar. In an early form of the calendar, the year began in March. September was consequently the seventh month, October the eighth, November the ninth and December the tenth.
When January and February became part of the structure that eventually placed them before March, the traditional names survived. This explains the apparent contradiction we still see today.
Where do the other month names come from?
January is traditionally associated with Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, transitions and doorways. February is linked to ancient purification rites, while March takes its name from Mars, the Roman god of war.
May is generally associated with Maia and June with Juno. The precise origin of April is more uncertain and remains debated.
Our calendar is therefore a linguistic archive where religion, politics, numbers and history coexist.
From the Roman to the Gregorian calendar
Today, much of the world uses the Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582 under Pope Gregory XIII to correct the growing discrepancy between the Julian calendar and the solar year.
The ancient names, however, survived. August still remembers Augustus, July commemorates Julius Caesar, while September, October, November and December preserve traces of an older arrangement of the year.
Did Augustus take a day from February?
A popular story claims that Augustus wanted his month to have 31 days, just like July, and therefore took a day away from February.
It is a memorable story, but it should not be treated as established historical fact. The development of the Roman and Julian calendars was considerably more complicated, and August’s 31 days cannot simply be explained as the result of rivalry between Augustus and Caesar.
Month names are fragments of history
Understanding why August is called August reveals how much of ancient Rome survives in everyday language. Whenever we say August, we indirectly remember Rome’s first emperor; whenever we say July, we recall Julius Caesar.
The modern Gregorian calendar, therefore, does more than organise our days. Its month names preserve fragments of a civilisation that existed more than two thousand years ago.
Did you already know the origin of the name August, or did you imagine a different explanation? Tell us in the comments.
Practical idea: look at all twelve months and try to discover the origin of each name. You may be surprised by how much ancient history appears on an ordinary calendar.
Related articles: Why We Celebrate Ferragosto
This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)