Why is October the 10th Month if October Means 8?
72Why is October the 10th Month if October Means 8?
And why should September be the 9th month if September means 7?
It all dates back to the Julian calendar. In 45 B.C. Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, introduced the Julian calendar. With just a few changes, it is the calendar we still use today.
The first month of the calendar began in March. This explains why September which means “seven” (think septuplets) in Latin is the 9th month and not the seventh month.
It explains why October, which means “eight” (think octuplets) is the 10th month, and not the eighth month.
And why November, which means “nine” is the 11th month, and December, which means 10 is the 12th month. At that time, January and February were last two months of the year.
Further, it was Pope Gregory XIII, in 1582, who noticed that the Julian calendar was ten days ahead of the solar time of the year. To improve the Julian calendar he removed the leap years from the century years, such as 1700, unless they could be divided by 400, as in the year 2000.
When the Pope ordered the 10 extra days to be removed, the people felt cheated. In England, the extra days were not removed until 1751, and it is said that at that time riots broke out.
If you do crossword puzzles you may come across a clue that reads ’March middle’ - that solution would be “ides” as in the ides of March - which simply means the 15th of the month. There is a familiar saying that goes with the ides of March - a warning to Julius Caesar which warns him to “Beware the Ides of March.” For whatever reason Caesar had to worry, it seems again that it was no more than the 15th of the month. In fact the months of May, July, and October also had ides that fell on the 15th, while for the other months, ides fell on the 13th. Ides was a reference point.
There was also Kalends,which was always the 1st day of the month. It is believed that the word calendar comes from this word.
Then there was Nones which was the 7th day in March, May, July, and October; and the 5th in the other months.
For more interesting information about the history of time and a time line about time please see the links below:
The History of Time/ Time Line About Time
- http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1481798/how_the_ancients_told_time.html?cat=37
- A Time Line About Time
While we working stiffs live on what is called “Industrial Time” - time actually has a history at least 30,000 years old and is much different from today. Time has been told by the sun and the moon,...
October, the 8th and 10th month
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Thanks laringo. I love knowledge which is why I enjoy your hubs so much.
Glad you stopped by!
Hi BkCreative , I enjoy to read hubs from you.One more time a good hub.Thank you for sharing.
You're welcome meteoboy! And thanks for reading and thanks for the compliment!
Interesting! I'd never even though about this. :)
I came across it one fine day Hope Wilbanks! And said 'Ahhh!'
Glad you found it interesting!
Wonderful!! It is so interesting a topic yet we hardly knew!! I know tennis game scores are derived from time but how it came to be 40 instead of 45 is not known to me!! Can you highlight??
Well, that is new to me dreamreachout. I had no idea tennis scores were related to time. I will have to investigate. Thanks for the info!
I would wait to hear back from you on the subject!!
Good question - but then September means 7, November is 9 and December is 10! So it seems that someone naming months didn't do well in math - or Latin, whatever. hehe. Interesting observation though!
Thanks Nellieanna! And that may well be the answer - no knowledge of math or Latin - but we know better! Nice to meet you by the way.
What a great question. Thank you for answering it. I kind of like the idea of the new year beginning in spring. It makes sense.
That would be nice Delores Monet. I suppose we should change it. I'm game! Thanks for commenting!
I LOVE THE INFO, I GIVE YOU ????? 5 HAPPY FACES FOR THIS YEAR WE ARE GETTING THE 555; YES 5 WEEKENDS THIS IS THE FIRST TIME TO HAPPEN AFTER 555 YEARS..
Wow Elias Polanco - I can't tell you how glad I am that you wrote this - I had a dream two nights ago about lots of $5.00 bills - then a friend who is a hubber just published a hub at the same time about $5.00 gold coins. And we were wondering where all these 5s are coming from. Yet, we are saying that this is our lucky month.
Really thanks for this info - I will send it to her now!
Ohhhh I just love the comment that Elias left! yes, there is something to these fives of our right now!!! I think this will be a very good month!
For sure - theherbivorhippi - one of my favorite proverbs is from Senegal I think it is - 'prepare for the good times so you may enjoy them when they come' - that is positive thinking!
Thanks for the info, I had forgotten that September means (7) and October is (8) not ten as we know it.
I do hope this is a great month, maybe starting today, I should do everything in 5's and drive everyone crazy.
I love your 5 idea Jo. And thanks for all the information you provided about the 5 weekends. Yay! It's a feel good month!
This was a very interesting article! I would have never known any of this without you! Thank you for explaining it!
You're welcome RunAbstract! Glad you enjoyed it!
I used this for ecta cretet and and i had soooooooooooo much fun doin it
thats so weird:>
Thank you for the comments! Yay!
Thanks for the info
BTW - starting the calendar in March to line up with spring would mean southern hemisphere new year would have to be in Sept!
You're welcome Scenic Cynic and thanks very much for your comment and food for thought!
laringo 3 years ago
BKCreative, I had heard something like this many many moons ago, but thanks for bringing it back up. It's always good to keep the knowledge flow going.