# Months
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/months/162546
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 19, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/months/162546 "2003-03-19T14:35:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Thisissoghey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thisissoghey)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/months/162546/1 "2003-03-19T14:35:21Z")
The other day, a buddy of mine was wearing a tee-shirt commemorating the Baltimore Ravens’ Superbowl championship two years ago. The back of the shirt had their schedule from that season, and said if they won or lost that game. However, instead of spelling out the entire months (which would have taken up too much space for the tee-shirt), the months were abbreviated to Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec., and Jan.
I looked at “Sept.” and couldn’t help but think of my French class, in which I learned that “sept” means “seven.” This got me thinking that perhaps the names of the months were based upon their number. However, I quickly dismissed this idea when I remembered that September is the _ninth_ month.
Still, I thought about the other months. October: “oct-” is a prefix meaning eight, right? And “nov?” Like nueve in Spanish or nouveau in French, meaning nine? Dec? Like a decathalon?
I doubt it’s coincidence. But why do only these months have prefixes that mean numbers? Moreover, why don’t the numbers coincide with the month’s actual number?
---
### Author:  [@pierre72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pierre72)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/months/162546/2 "2003-03-19T14:38:11Z")
dim recall…
I think, before the current 12-month calendar we have now, it was a 10 month calendar, and July and August were added in Roman times - after Julius and Augustus… emperors of Rome.
Therefore, Sept was 7th month Oct. was 8th month… Nov… 9th… , … Dec., 10th…
---
### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/months/162546/3 "2003-03-19T14:39:47Z")
The months got skewed when the Romans added July (after Julius Caesar) and August (after Augustus Caesar) to make the calendar more accurate.
---
### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/months/162546/4 "2003-03-19T14:39:54Z")
Yes, they were numbers from a 10-month calendar in an early Roman calendar, and you have the correct interpretation. Two months were added later (July and August, I believe) to tune up the calendar. I’m sure someone will drop by with a detailed history of the calendar, which I’ve seen on this board in the past.
---
### Author:  [@carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrot)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2003, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/months/162546/5 "2003-03-19T14:42:52Z")
Go [here](http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/59232.html).
So Caesar didn’t exactly add July and August, but he did add two months and change the names of July and August, and added January and February.
---
### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/months/162546/6 "2003-03-19T14:45:37Z")
Not quite. The start of the year in Roman Times was March.
So if March ==1, September ==7, October ==8 etc.
As for July and August. they used to be called something like
Quintillius (5) and Sextillius (6); then they were changed to honor Julius and Augustus Caesar. I forget when it was decided to move the start of the year to January.
---
### Author:  [@chiefgnome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiefgnome)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/months/162546/7 "2003-03-19T14:47:46Z")
Simple - the original Roman calendar had only ten months and was 304 days long. It started in March and went through to December. There were no dates in the winter, as there was no agricultural work to be done. It also included the months of Quinctilis (Five) and Sextilis (six) which would later be renamed in honour of Julius Caesar and Augustus.
At some point February and January were added (by legend it was the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilus) although the year was still counted from March, ensuring that December was still month 10.
In 153 BC the start of the year was moved to January from March, and ever since the names of the months have been out of sync.