Showing posts with label Etymology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Etymology. Show all posts
Monday, January 11, 2010
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, August 13, 2007
08/13/07: the Ides of August are upon us...
Roman Calendar refresher taken from my in-box this morning, from "Wordsmith" (wsmith@wordsmith.org):
"Beware the Ides of March," the soothsayer warned Julius Caesar. Caesar didn't heed the warning and we all know his fate. At least that is what history tells us. I've a feeling Caesar did mind the date but he simply got lost in the hopelessly complex Roman calendar and confused the D-day. Ides are only one of the ingredients of the Roman calendar. The other two are calends (or kalends) and nones. The calends are straightforward -- they always fall on the first of every month. Nones on the fifth or the seventh, and ides on the thirteenth or the fifteenth. All dates are counted backwards from the nearest nones, calends, or ides.
Here's a little rhyme to help you remember the dates:
March, July, October, and May
The nones are on the seventh day.
And ides fall eight days after the Nones.
The word calendar derives from Latin calendarium (account book) since it was used to keep track of the date when debts were due.
ides (eyedz) noun: The 15th day of March, May, July, or October, and the 13th day of the other months in the ancient Roman calendar.
[From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin idus.]
Note: I'm guessing the Ides were made popular by our English friend, William Shakespeare, rather than being made popular by any history book. And then by the public school system that had us commit "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your ears..." in the 10th grade. At least in my neck of the woods.
"Beware the Ides of March," the soothsayer warned Julius Caesar. Caesar didn't heed the warning and we all know his fate. At least that is what history tells us. I've a feeling Caesar did mind the date but he simply got lost in the hopelessly complex Roman calendar and confused the D-day. Ides are only one of the ingredients of the Roman calendar. The other two are calends (or kalends) and nones. The calends are straightforward -- they always fall on the first of every month. Nones on the fifth or the seventh, and ides on the thirteenth or the fifteenth. All dates are counted backwards from the nearest nones, calends, or ides.
Here's a little rhyme to help you remember the dates:
March, July, October, and May
The nones are on the seventh day.
And ides fall eight days after the Nones.
The word calendar derives from Latin calendarium (account book) since it was used to keep track of the date when debts were due.
ides (eyedz) noun: The 15th day of March, May, July, or October, and the 13th day of the other months in the ancient Roman calendar.
[From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin idus.]
Note: I'm guessing the Ides were made popular by our English friend, William Shakespeare, rather than being made popular by any history book. And then by the public school system that had us commit "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your ears..." in the 10th grade. At least in my neck of the woods.
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