| Month |
Derivation (from Latin) |
| Jânuârius |
"Month of Jânus," from Jânus, (Genitive Jâni), god of gateway arches and transitions. |
| Februârius |
"Month of Sacrificial Fumigation," from februum (Genitive februi), "incense fumes; implements for expiation and purification; feast of expiation and purification" (annually celebrated in the thirty days or so before the beginning of March). |
| Mârtius |
"Month of Mârs," Mârs (Genitive Mârtis; Old Latin, Mâvors, Mâvortis), god of weather and war, later identified with the Greek Ares (Genitive Areôs). The "month of Mârs" (Mârtius) was originally the first month of the year, the first sixty days after December being uncalendared. |
| Aprîlis |
"Month of Venus," from Etruscan apru from Greek Aphro, short form of Aphrodíte (the Greek goddess of love, Latin Venus [Genitive Veneris], "Love, Desire."). |
| Mâjus |
"Month of Mâjus/Mâja," from Mâjus (Genitive Mâji), "the Growth Bringer" (god) or "the Great" (god), an old Roman god. Cf. Latin magnus "great" and Maja "the Great Goddess," or "Earth." |
| Jûnius |
"Month of Juno," from Juno (Genitive Junonis) "the Youthful" (goddess), originally an old Etruscan (and Italic) goddess of birth. (Later identified with the Greek queen of the gods, the goddess Hera.) |
| Jûlius |
(Originally Quîntîlis, "Fifth [month]," and Julius Caesar's birth month.) "Month of Jûlius (Caesar)," from Jûlius (Genitive Jûlii), the name of a patrician clan (gens) which included the family of the Caesars (Caesares), whence sprang Gâjus Jûlius Caesar, after whom the month of Quîntîlis (earlier Quînctîlis from quînque, "5") was renamed. |
| Augustus |
(Originally Sextîlis ,"Sixth [month]," from sex, "6," and the death month of the emperor Octâviânus.) "Month of Augustus (Caesar)," from augustus "sacrosanct; august, majestic"; and as a title, "(His) August Majesty," honorific title given to Gâjus Jûlius Caesar Octâviânus (originally only Gâjus Octâvius), the adopted son of Gâjus Jûlius Caesar. Octâviânus was the first Roman emperor (31 B.C.-A.D. 14). |
| September |
"The Seventh [month]," from septem, "7" (i.e., starting from March). The emperor Titus Flâvius Domitiânus Germânicus (reigned A.D. 81-96) renamed September to his agnômen, Germânicus ("Victor over the Germans"), his self-imposed honorific title, during his reign. The name "September" was restored after his assassination in 96. |
| Octôber |
"The Eighth [month]," from octô, "8" (i.e., starting from March). The emperor Titus Flâvius Domitiânus Germânicus (reigned A.D. 81-96) renamed Octôber to his cognômen, Domitiânus, during his reign. The name "Octôber" was restored after his assassination in 96. |
| November |
"The Ninth [month]," from novem, "9" (i.e., starting from March). |
| December |
"The Tenth [month]," from decem, "10" (i.e., starting from March). |
| Weekday |
Derivation (through Old English from the names of the Greek and Latin "planet gods") |
| Sunday |
Day of the Sun (The Germanic word "sun" was originally feminine; hence not "Sunsday"). Symbol: sacred draught animal = the stallion drawing a plough. Translation of Latin Solis diês, "day of the Sun." (French dimanche and Spanish domingo come from Christian Latin [diês] dominicus, "[the day] of the Lord," not from the older, pagan Latin as do the other weekday names.) The Latin name is itself a loan translation from Greek hëméra Hëlíou, "day of the Sun [god]." |
| Monday |
Day of the Moon (The Germanic word "moon" was originally feminine; hence not "Moonsday"), translation of Latin Lunae diês, "day of the Moon" (cf. French lundi, Spanish lunes). Symbol: lunar crescent. The Latin name is itself a loan translation from Greek hëméra Selênës, "day of the Moon [goddess]." |
| Tuesday |
Day of Tew (Germanic, originally masculine; Old Norse Tyr, Old High German Ziu). Symbol: the rune for "T" (į, an upward-pointing arrow), the warrior rune. Translation of Latin Mârtis diês, "day of Mars" (cf. French mardi, Spanish martes). The Latin name is itself a loan translation from Greek Areôs hëméra, "Ares' day." (Ares was the god of war and slaughter, strife and pestilence.) |
| Wednesday |
Day of Woden (Germanic, originally masculine; Old Norse Odin, Old High German Wotan). Symbols: eagle, raven (carrion birds, birds of death), whirling disk (i.e., the birth canal and the tunnel of death), the wal knot (intertwined triple triangle), spear. (The name Woden itself comes from Gothic Wodan-, Wodin-, which is composed of wod-, "in shamanic trance," and the ending "-an-" or "-in-," which mean "chief or leader of." Thus the name means "Leader of those in shamanic rapture," or, more simply, "Chief of the Shamans" or "Shaman God." Ancient Germanic religion was shamanic.) The word translates Latin Mercuriî diês "day of Mercury" (cf. French mercredi, Spanish miércoles). The Latin name is itself a loan translation from Greek Hermoû hëméra, "Hermës' day." (Hermës was the messenger of the gods to men, and the one who, like the shaman-god Wodan, conducted the souls of the dead to the Netherworld; he was also the god of commerce and travel.) |
| Þursday |
Day of Thor (= Thunder). (The Germanic word was originally masculine; Old Norse Thor, Old High German Donar). Symbols: great oaks, ax, hammer, swastika. Translation of Latin Jovis diês "day of Jove" (the high god). (Cf. French jeudi, Spanish jueves). The Latin name is itself a loan translation of Greek Diós hëméra "Zeus' day." |
| Friday |
Day of Fry, the goddess of love (originally feminine, hence not "Frisday"; Old Norse Frigga, Old High German Frija; cf. also English fri-end "loving person"). Symbols: nuts, apples, seeds, wheat; boar & sow, mare. Translation of Latin Veneris diês "day of Venus" (cf. French vendredi, Spanish viernes). The Latin name is itself a loan translation from Greek Aphrodítës hëméra, "Aphrodítë's day." |
| Saturday |
Day of Saturn (originally a Latin, not Germanic, masculine; hence not "Satursday"). Symbols: plough, scythe/sickle, snake biting its own tail, i.e., symbols of all-consuming time (= the "Grim Reaper"). English follows the Latin Sâturnî diês "day of Saturn". The Latin name is itself a loan translation from Greek Krónou hëméra "Krónos' day." By contrast, Aramaic-Hebrew shabbâþ (from Hebrew shâbháþ "to rest") produced Greek Christian sábbaton (Dative sabbátôj, "on the Sabbath"), which passed into classical Arian Christian Visigothic as sabbatô "Sabbath." In vulgar Greek the word was "smoothed out" to sámbatôn and taken into later Gothic as sambatô. Arian Christian Germanic missionaries took the word northwestward into Germanic territory. There it was suffixed with the clarifying word dags "day" (i.e., yielding something like *sambatadags) and ultimately resulted in modern French samedi, (but cf. Spanish sábado), Old High German sambaztag and modern German Samstag, which competes with true German Sonnabend "Eve of Sun(day)." The closest Germanic equivalent to Sâturnus may have been the terrifying supernatural monster known in the north as Loki (whom the Christian Saxo Grammaticus, around 1200, demonized as "Loki of the Outer Regions" [Útgarša Loki]), but the "neutral," foreign name of Saturday was preferred by Englishmen to *Lokisday (which the Scandinavians apparently changed into Laugardagr "Bathing day"; laug- = English lye, the original form of soap). |