The word “February” is pronounced fe-broo-airy by some and feb-you-airy by others. That is interesting–I think it is a case of sound change, but I do not know (maybe it is dialectal thing?).
Also this is interesting:
OCTober oct means eight (octopus, octagon)
SEPTtember sept means seven in French
NOVember the nov represents nine (neuf is none in French)
DECember the dec represents ten

That made sense when there were only ten months.

SEPTtember should be SEPTember

oh my god now dioc.com is becoming religious anyway good arti.

neuf actually means nine in french; not none.

i wish there’s only ten months like what it is before…….he..he.he…..imagine!!!!

i think febuary is cooler than january.. i just think ^.^

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Septem = 7 in Latin
Octo = 8 in Latin
Novem = 9 in Latin
Decem = 10 in Latin

Which makes sense, as you said, because there were 10 months, but also because the Romans spoke Latin.

Then whats FEBruary?

I don’t believe the above…completely airbrushes the GODDESS FREYA after whom Feb . was called…Just another example of women being washed from history…

I thought August and July were added later because of Julius and Augustus Caesar. Enlighten me here…

February, should be pronounced Feb-roo-airy, it should never ever be Feb-you-airy to rhyme with Jan-you-airy!

Linguistic assimilation accounts for the pronunciation feb-yoo-airy. The phonemes on either side of the “r” are both pronounced near the front of the mouth while the vowel “u” is pronounced near the rear. By moving the “u” forward it is assimilated with the adjacent sounds, becoming an “i” or “y” sound. We are all familiar with butter becoming budder – the same process.

Third sentence should read:

“By moving the “r” forward..

Judging from old blogs, we’re about to have a bunch of complete morons writing religious garbage.
My message to all is to cut that garbage because it makes you all look stupid.

Btw : I hope this blog is more accurate than some we’ve seen here (don’t know enough about February history to judge).

They should re-arrange the months

NOB

For us in Brazil, February is rainy, but at the same time it’s hot all time and besides, it’s the month of Carnaval… Yay!
Here, we used to say that the year does not begin untill the end of Carnaval, which is the Feb 21st this year, because the schools are in summer break as from December and classes would restart (sometimes) one week before the Carnaval and most students used to skip these… In a similar way, if you were to find a job, most probably would have to wait because the companies would not hire anyone between Christmas and Carnaval.
Nowadays, things changed and my kids are already at school 3 weeks before Carnaval. Also, I was invited for a job interview in late january, though I am well employed.
I guess perception of the months do change along the years, like everything else.

Cheers from the Tropics (30ºC right now)

The word “February” is pronounced fe-broo-airy by some and MISPRONOUNCED feb-you-airy by others. It’s a simple matter of typical American laziness.

Thank you. This is great. Keep it up!

My birthday (March 10) would have been the start of the new year. So technically I was born January 1. Awesome!!

I mean March 1

According to the article, Numa Pompilius added our (now) first and second months as filler, so the Roman calendar could catch up with Earth’s annual revolution around the sun – that way, the year would be approximately 365 days long, as it is today. The calendar was eventually reworked into 30 or 31 day months to coincide with lunar cycles, as is our January with 31 days.
In a normal year, March through January’s days add up to only 337. So, if you back into the equation, the (then) last month of the year, now known as February, plays catch-up with only 28 days – completing the 365 days for a full solar year.
So…”what do [I] think of February?” If the original Roman “Februa” meant purification (cleansing, clean-up, etc.), then it would stand to reason that these extra 28 days were tacked on as sort of a year-end clearance, in preparation for the new year’s emergence of Spring (= rebirth, renewal, etc.). I guess we’re not so different from the ancient Romans then, when we have our “year-end clearance sales,” which also make room for the New Year’s (and capitalism’s) inventory of goods to sell.

September through December derive from the old Roman names for seven through 10, because they were months seven through 10 when the new year started in March.

And July and August were Quintilis (fifth) and Sextilis (sixth) even though the new year was switched to January in 450 BC.

They were changed by Augustus to honor Julius Caesar (Quintilis –> July) because he was born in that month, and Sextilis to August in 8BC.

Then January and February should have been Undecimber and Duodecimber. I suppose further differentiating these two additional months from December brought greater variety and clarity to the months of the year.

Aren’t the other months named after gods? Surely there are enough gods in the Roman pantheon. Perhaps they did not feel compelled to honor any other gods.

Perhaps adding 2 months to the Roman calandar is where the confusion lies when referencing Christ’s Birthday, Just a thought (theologically speaking)

Interesting article. I knew about the other months, but I somehow missed February. And great comment by Me above.
To add to it, July and August is for Julius & Augustus Caesar, from the Roman World.

February is pronounced “feb-you-airy” because we often say it right after January, which is, of course, “jan-you-airy.” This sort of sound change often happens with lists, and is found in languages around the globe.

This is wise.

Neuf = NINE in French and aucune = nothing.

Actually, those months are named after Latin terms. This is especially evident since French is a descendant language of Latin, and that the calendar was written in Roman times.

SEPTember septum is 7 (like septuplets)
OCTober octum is 8 (like octagon)
NOvember nonne is 9 (like nonagon)
DECEMber decem is 10 (like decagon or decameter)

Isn’t it funny how everything is named after some sort of ‘god’? How ridiculous. The thought of some sort of ‘being’ who determines your fate. Or just is there. All around us. Invisible. Why is it invisible? Because it doesn’t even exist. I mean, who thinks up these ridiculous fables? Or even more ridiculous, the gods of mythology. I know, they’re MYTHS. But it just shows that history repeats itself. Humans will always seek comfort in some type of crap. In this case, some idol to worship. But hey, it’s my opinion. Just saying. But my opinion is right. It always is.

Did the romans already have notion of Heliocentrism at that time? Because it says “the second king of Rome [...] added january and february [...] to conform the to how long it actually takes the Earth to go around the Sun.

Since i know, it was still before Ptolomaeus’ geocentrism prototype.

Cool stuff! So far the “religos” have been quiet. Sherryyu; D.com is not “becoming” religious, they are merely relating history. Simmer down! I thought Friday was named after Freya although I could be wrong…

@kristine byrne: Actually, Freya named Friday, not February.

Kiltpin is right. The correct pronounciation of February is Feb-roo-ary

Very interesting article

@ Ryan: Yes, ten months–decimal– like b4 would be nice! Gt idea Ryan!!!

@Anyone…: These gods are not religious but mythological from Classical Mythology, both Greek & Roman

Thanks

I think it should be called Secunduary for the 2nd month, but I am partial to that name. : )

[...] ‘February’ , First of all, some Secondary Groundhog — and then the Month Thematic of Black History in the Ship’s Log — Of America evolving, — To Eat the World with Capital Steps instead of Problem Solving — So much revolving — Ideologue, Oh, Contrary, February. –>>L.T.Rhyme [...]

Okay, what about April!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

that’s interesting for me.we don’t use AD calender in IRAN,we use solar calender that has 12 months.our spring starts on March and our first month is FARVARDEN that begins in middle of March.next month is Ordebehisht,then Khordad,Tir,Mordad,Shahrivar,Mehr,Aban,Azar,Day,Bahman,Asfand,which any of them has its own story.
I hope u like it.lol

february is also one month away from march madness basketball

Augustus Caesar added his month (August) first. Then, later, when Julius Caesar wanted his “own” month, he stuck his right in front of Augustus’s to “top” him! Great story.

There’s a great book about time and how our Western calendar came about. I *think* it was “Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar,” by Duncan Steel. A really fascinating look at Western history through the lens of our modern calendar!

neuf is nine in French…not none…that’s aucun…

did you guys know that they actually named the months after ALL the ceaser people? like August is Augustis Ceaser and October is Octivan Ceaser. (they are the same people. that shows how smart they are! not to be mean or anything.)

Whoa, girl calm down

—

Anyway, thanks for the info, this will help on my science project

I think his “none” instead of “nine” was most likely a typo.. I found that comment more interesting than the article itself!

July (month of my b-day) comes from Julius. I don’t know if he was a god or if he was Julius Caesar, I just know it was from Julius.

I thought the two month that were added were June and July after Zues (Jupiter in Roman mythology) and Hera (Juno in Roman mythology).

I theory, we wouldn’t have to rearrange the months so much if we just changed New Years.

1. March 2. April 3. May 5. June 5. July 6. August 7. September 8. October 9. November 10. December 11. January 12. February

I think it would make more sense that way, since Spring starts around that time. Haha, we would be beginning a new year along with everything else. A fresh start!

**in theory
((Sorry, I didn’t catch that ;P ))

I love the fact that there are twelve months. I couldn’t t imagen the year with!!out all twelve!

In response to Kristine Byrne’s comment, Freyya has nothing to do with the Roman Calendar, but rather with the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) calendar. The Romans had no knowledge of Germanic gods and goddesses and therefore it would make no sense for them to name a month after one. And Freya hasn’t been buried and forgotten since her name is in fact the etymological source of the day Friday (in the English days of the week) and Freitag (in the German days of the week). For the majority of the Romance languages “Friday” is named after Roman goddess of fertility, Venus: Venerdi (Italian) Viernes (Spanish), Vendredi (French), and Vineri (Romanian). The real question should be why English speaking countries name their days of the week after Anglo Saxon gods (with the exception of Saturday) and yet adhere to the Western tradition of using Roman inspired names for the months.

In response to Uh…’s comment, it is true that July and August were in fact named after Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar, but those months weren’t added because of them. Before they were called “July” and “August” they were Quinctilis and Sextilis respectively. They were the fifth and sixth month in the ten month Roman calendar (Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Iunius, Quinctilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, December). June was Iunius because technically the Latin alphabet did not have a “J” and all names that we have translated as starting with a “J” actually started with an “I” like “Iulius Caesaris.”

Quinctilis was renamed July (“Iulius” in Latin) because Julius Caesar was born on that month, and Sextilis was renamed August (“Augustus” in Latin) because that was Augustus Caesar’s favorite month. Though Augustus was interestingly enough born on the 23rd of September, some of his more important political victories occurred in the month of “Sextilis,” such as his election to the office of consul in 43 B.C. on the 19th of that month and his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra in Alexandria, Egypt in 30 B.C. on the first of that month.)

I think it is quite cool! =)

Wow…never had a background check on ma history pages…..nice work there….but still am a fan of Dan Brown….’Cause so many things have been hidden by other authorities

i am from Ethiopia ,we have our own calendar that has 12 months & 5 days

once in every 4 years the it becomes 12 month & 6 days, and also we are at 2004 AD at this time

kind regards

Can’t help but notice the similarity between the Old English word for month, monath, and the current Scandinavian word for month, monad. Same origin for sure!

crikie! you guys/gals have confused the croc out of me, awesome site, love it, whats the real facts but?????????????? who is right here???? how many new years have we had all up since the calender began???????, The folllowing is all i know about,, april 1st,, march 1st, jan 1st,, I know when the new year changed from april 1st to jan 1st in the 1500’s sometime,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,(I THINK), alot of people refused to go with jan 1st as the new year and still celebrated new year on april 1st, the people that went with the new year on jan 1st, played pranks on those that didn’t, and proceeded to call them the april fools, which is how april fools day came about, from the change of date for the beggining of the new year, SO WHO IS CORRECT HERE???? ANYONE!!!!

Note to “Unamused on February 2, 2012 at 10:01 am”:

OF COURSE the months – and just about anything else the ancients came in contact with – were named after their gods. Mythology wasn’t just a bunch of stories to these people… it was their way of life.

Fact #1: Throughout history, man has always tried to sense of his world, and has struggled to logically explain WHY things happen. Being able to do so gave him a feeling of control, when everything else in his life seemed so hopelessly BEYOND his control.

Fact #2: Whatever man could NOT explain caused him to FEAR. And fear was a REALLY BIG DEAL to ancient man.

Therefore, given Facts 1 and 2, man invented Mythology. By blaming the “gods” for the unexplainable, he was able sense of the world, and could justify why stuff happened. By attributing the sun rising and setting to mystical chariots dragging light and darkness across the skies; or by sending off the dead to whirl in a vast, underground river for eternity; early mankind had created organization.

And to honor his gods (because if he didn’t…OH-OH!!), man prayed, offered sacrifices, built temples and monuments, and named stuff after them – including (but not limited to) the months of the year.

And sure, lots of people today find solace in religion (which is really just modern-day mythology, right?). But think about it… life doesn’t always make sense – just turn on CNN and tell me that man has nothing to worry (or pray?) about. Hey, if people want look for comfort in their God, let them do so. If it helps them cope, where’s the harm?

And, on a lighter note, when things didn’t go the way he wanted them to, I’m sure there were quite a few ancient Greeks who sometimes uttered under their collective breath, “Zeus-dammit!!!”

ON THE 19TH I START LIVING MY 90TH YEAR…… TELL ME HAPPY B-DAY ……….. AND I’LL SEND YOU MY BLESSINGS… I HAVE A FEW LEFT OVER THAT I DON’T NEED RIGHT NOW.

Why has nobody mentioned how the rearranging of the months is all due to the Illuminati? Think about it: classical deities, numbers, the sun. It is well-known, though still very much covered-up, that Caesars Julius and Augustus were both Freemasons, and the word “illuminati” is from the Latin. People don’t realize that this shadowy group controls even the calendar.

March 1 is Justin Birthday! It should be a holiday!

@kristine byrne- As stated above, it was the Romans who had the Februa festival and the god Februus. Freya was a Norse goddess. It’s not women being washed from history, it’s that part of history happening at such a time when they were not interrelated.

@Spike- it’s not just Americans who mispronounce February, so you can’t logically or reasonably say it’s “typical American laziness.”

@Unamused- Rhetorically, you can’t say an opinion is right or wrong. It’s an opinion, and only facts are right or wrong. So the “fact” that you’re opinion is always right is wrong.

And for my own comment, without challenging or criticizing someone else’s comment(s), I think February is awesome, regardless of where it’s name came from. What other month has a varying number of days? What other month has a name that you can use to make fun- or politely correct- those who mispronounce it? When else shall we ask the groundhog to rise up and give a weather report (usually inaccurate, but fun nonetheless)? When else do I get to say “I have little less than a month before my birthday?” No other month!

I was born in February. :] Which is like what 23 days away? (February 25)

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………………………
huh i don’t know what you are talking about

thanks guys

Here’s fodder for the haters: Ninnies who call it feb-yoo-airy are the same lot who hang the toilet paper rolls backward (toward the wall). Just bad all ’round!

Well, actually, SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, NOVEMBER and DECEMBER originated from Sanskrit language. The word September can be divided into two words SEPT which comes from Sanskrit word SAPTA or seven. AMBER, not as in the fossilized resin, AMBER in Sanskrit means The Sky. So, September means Seventh month, October means the Eighth month, November means ninth month and December means tenth month. Now, people might think why do we have these names which denote the months wrong, according to today’s standards, but the answer can be found in the above article. It says that there were originally 10 months and January and February were added later on and that’s why the names.

Feb-you-airy…………:/, Doesn’t make sense. Buh feb-roo-airy……hmmm:>makes sense!

February is the best month because I was born in February

Unamused, who cares if ancient men were religious??? It didn’t hurt them and it doesn’t hurt us.
Also, pronouncing February Feb-you-airy ROCKS!!!! And Spike, its not just Americans who pronounce it that way.
who, the info seeker are you Australian? Cos you said things like crikey a lot

You’d think the origin of the word would interest the pagans who like to read these stories. After all, the word comes from the pagan Romans. One pagan here even invoked God to express her fear of religous posts. Gotta love the pagans!

Great stuff!
But why does everyone keep commenting about the French words none and nine? Seriously, by the context, its pretty obvious it was a typo- I read it as nine before I had to go back and check. dumb and unnecessary to correct.

so much misinformation, the mind boggles. i STRONGLY suggest you all take an hour or two to watch a free movie online: zeitgeist – it explains the commonality of ALL religions and/or mythology planet-wide.

the only thing i would draw attention to is SOLmonath – a little digging (no pun intended) into etymological circles afforded me the info that SOL means mud OR sun, depending upon how you pronounce this Old English phoneme. the blog on which i discovered this info claimed that February sees gardens and fields turn muddy in merry old england. dunno how it is there but here in the colonies, at the same latitude, february sees rock-hard frozen ground which doesn’t thaw until the end of march to april.

to be fair, that website does suggest that the longer days start FEELING longer in february, hence the name solmonath might refer to the sun, not mud. but who knows for sure, eh mates?

i think february is a rubbish month and why is april called april cos thts my bday

What about the number of days in each month? The explanation I have heard goes like this: The original 12 months alternated between 30 and 31 days, except February which had 29 days (30 in a leap year). When the seventh and eight months were renamed July and August it was felt that the month named after Augustus should not have fewer days than the one named after Julius. So one day was taken from February and added to August. The days in the remaining months were then swapped to return to the alternate pattern. Or something like that.

@Surya Akella

The names of the months were coined long after Sanskrit, Latin and Greek separated (which was between the fourth to seventh millennium BC.) All three languages were born from the same mother, the Indo-European proto language, which explains why Sanskrit shares some common roots with Latin. However, Sanskrit certainly had nothing to do with the coining of the Western months.

In Greece we have a saying: Even if February februarises, we’ll smell of summer.

There’s an “R” in FebRuary for a reason- pronounce it!

Wonder what the old name for September….

u guys are wird! :0

HEEYY GIRL WATS UP HOW U BIN HOWS SCHOOL ?

its going good getting ready for the OGTS STRSSED OUT YO ::::)

wow thats crazy me 2

waattt

hey were ya go helloooww hether r u still there?

i guss not well ill text ya then lol cant hide from me lol

But February is still filled with snow in Buffalo (where I live)

hoho.. now, that’s a lot of fun to me.. February is my month (the 13th)

hi everyone

Don’t use this for a messaging site- that’s what facebook is for.

My fav mnth June coz its my birth month….is named after a Roman Goddess Juno yay me!!!!

Mah fav0rite month is May cuz it’s my birthday and i love spring:)

I don’t like the month of February. We always get soooo much snow. Thanks for the article, it was interesting to find out about the month. Cheers.

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cool February is the best month every cool stuf happens in this month i love it

I don’t understand the hubbub concerning February’s pronunciation. Whether it is feh-BROO- ehry or feh-BYOO- ehry shouldn’t that be left to the desire of the speaker.

The spoken word cant always be as sweet to the ears as it is to the eyes.

Along with the origin of the word, knowing the true tale is not a necessity of life just trivia, something to be aware of and if it just so happens to be a hundred and one stories explaining it, so be it. we can all choose which ever assumes the best reason in our minds, and the article can only list so much.

Wrong!
oktw is eight in greek
epta (or septa) is seven
and deka is ten

The names of the months came from when the Romans did a cleansing of culture, including their language, and added more Greek to Latin!