History Series: September

History of September

The Start of Fall

Image: created by DALL-E 3

You may have noticed that September sounds like the Latin word for Seven. And you’d be perceptive — septem is the Latin word for seven, and this month used to be the seventh month of the ancient Roman calendar.

This Latin numbering follows with the year’s remaining months, as highlighted below: eight/oct, nine/nov, ten/dec.

A Little Calendar History

Legend has it that this calendar, around 753 BC, was started by Romulus — the founder and first king of Rome — as I describe in my article on the Founding of Rome. The months counted up as follows:

1. Martius — 31 Days
2. Aprilis — 30 Days
3. Maius — 31 Days
4. Iunius — 30 Days
5. Quintilis — 31 Days
6. Sextilis — 30 Days
7. September — 30 Days
8. October — 31 Days
9. November — 30 Days
10. December — 30 Days

It Doesn’t Add Up

This adds up to only 304 days, not enough to cover all four seasons without winter holidays. King Numa Pompilius reformed the calendar around 700 BC so that January…