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Do not fill this in! ==Months== The Gregorian calendar continued to employ the [[Julian calendar|Julian]] months, which have Latinate names and irregular numbers of [[day]]s: * January (31 days), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis Iānuārius}}'', "Month of [[Janus (mythology)|Janus]]",<ref name=janoed>{{citation |contribution=January, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/100755 |title=Oxford English Dictionary |url=http://www.oed.com/ |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press }}.</ref> the [[Roman mythology|Roman god]] of gates, doorways, beginnings and endings * February (28 days in [[common year|common]] and 29 in [[leap year]]s), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis Februārius}}'', "Month of the [[Februa]]", the [[Roman festivals|Roman festival]] of purgation and purification,<ref name=foed>{{citation |contribution=February, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/68878 |title=Oxford English Dictionary }}.</ref><ref name=oe>{{citation |last=Liberman |first=Anatoly |date=7 March 2007 |contribution=On a Self-Congratulatory Note |contribution-url=http://blog.oup.com/2007/03/on_a_self_congr |title=Oxford Etymologist Archives |url=https://blog.oup.com/category/series-columns/oxford_etymologist/ |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford }}.</ref> [[cognate word|cognate]] with [[fever]],<ref name=foed/> the [[Etruscan mythology|Etruscan]] [[death god]] [[Februus]] ("Purifier"),{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} and the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] word for [[sulfur]]<ref name=foed/> * [[March (month)|March]] (31 days), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis Mārtius}}'', "Month of [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]]",<ref name=maroed>{{citation |contribution=March, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/113951 |title=Oxford English Dictionary }}.</ref> the Roman [[war god]]<ref name=oe/> * [[April (month)|April]] (30 days), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis Aprīlis}}'', of uncertain meaning<ref name=aproed>{{citation |contribution=April, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/9939 |title=Oxford English Dictionary }}.</ref> but usually derived from some form of the verb ''{{lang|la|aperire}}'' ("to open"){{efn|It is not unusual for month names to be based on natural descriptions but this etymology is sometimes doubted since no other ''Roman'' months have such names.<ref name=oe/>}} or the name of the goddess [[Aphrodite]]<ref name=oe/>{{efn|This derivation was apparently a popular one in ancient Rome, given by [[Plutarch]]<ref>{{citation |author=[[Plutarch]] |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Numa*.html#Romulan_year |title=Life of Numa |at=Ch. xix }}.</ref> but rejected by [[Varro]] and [[Cincius]].{{where|date=February 2017}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Scullard |first=H H |title=Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic |series=Aspects of Greek and Roman Life |publisher=Cornell University Press |location= Ithaca |date= 1990 |page=96 |isbn=9780801414022}}</ref> <ref>{{cite book |last=Forsythe |title=Time in Roman religion : one thousand years of religious history |page=10 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |date= 2014 |isbn=9781138802322}}.</ref>}} * [[May (month)|May]] (31 days), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis Māius}}'', "Month of [[Maia Maiestas|Maia]]",<ref name=mayoed>{{citation |contribution=May, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/115285 |title=Oxford English Dictionary }}.</ref> a Roman [[vegetation goddess]]<ref name=oe/> whose name is cognate with Latin ''{{lang|la|magnus}}'' ("great")<ref name=mayoed/> and English ''major'' * [[June (month)|June]] (30 days), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis Iūnius}}'', "Month of [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]]",<ref name=junoed>{{citation |contribution=June, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/102068 |title=Oxford English Dictionary }}.</ref> the Roman goddess of [[marriage in ancient Rome|marriage]], [[childbirth goddess|childbirth]], and rule<ref name=oe/> * July (31 days), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis Iūlius}}'', "Month of [[Julius Caesar]]", the month of Caesar's birth, instituted in 44{{nbsp}}BC<ref name=juloed>{{citation |contribution=July, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/102005 |title=Oxford English Dictionary }}.</ref> as part of [[Julian calendar|his calendrical reforms]]<ref name=oe/> * [[August (month)|August]] (31 days), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis Augustus}}'', "Month of [[Augustus]]", instituted by Augustus in 8{{nbsp}}BC in agreement with July and from the occurrence during the month of several important events during his rise to power<ref name=augoed>{{citation |contribution=August, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/13110 |title=Oxford English Dictionary }}.</ref> * September (30 days), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis september}}'', "seventh month", of the ten-month Roman year of [[Romulus]] {{circa|750}}{{nbsp}}BC<ref name=septoed>{{citation |contribution=September, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/176171 |title=Oxford English Dictionary }}.</ref> * October (31 days), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis octōber}}'', "eighth month", of the ten-month Roman year of Romulus {{circa|750}}{{nbsp}}BC<ref name=ooed>{{citation |contribution=October, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/130330 |title=Oxford English Dictionary }}.</ref> * November (30 days), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis november}}'', "ninth month", of the ten-month Roman year of Romulus {{circa|750}}{{nbsp}}BC<ref name=noed>{{citation |contribution=November, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/130330 |title=Oxford English Dictionary }}.</ref> * December (31 days), from Latin ''{{lang|la|mēnsis december}}'', "tenth month", of the ten-month Roman year of Romulus {{circa|750}}{{nbsp}}BC<ref name=doed>{{citation |contribution=December, ''n.'' |contribution-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/48106 |title=Oxford English Dictionary }}.</ref> Europeans sometimes attempt to remember the number of days in each month by memorizing some form of the traditional verse "[[Thirty Days Hath September]]". It appears in Latin,<ref>{{cite book |last=de Dacia |title=Anianus: Computus Metricus Manualis |location=Odense |first=Petrus |editor-first=Fritz S. |editor-last=Pedersen| language=la |oclc=163382057}}</ref> Italian,<ref name=i4d>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ek2LCwAAQBAJ |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ek2LCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT101 101–2] |title=Italian for Dummies |last=Onofri |first=Francesca Romana |author2=Karen Antje Moller |author3=Teresa L. Picarazzi |display-authors=1 |publisher=Berlitz |date=2012 |isbn=9781118258767 }}.</ref> French<ref>{{citation |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jWtIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA11 11] |last=Bond |first=Otto Ferdinand |author2=Hilda Laura Norman |display-authors=1 |title=Military Manual of Elementary French |date=1918 |publisher=E.L. Steck |location=[[Austin, Texas|Austin]] }}.</ref> and Portuguese,<ref>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TqUvp_kWAAsC |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TqUvp_kWAAsC&dq=%22trinta+dias+tem+setembro%22&pg=PA121 121] |title=Cartapacio de syllaba, e figuras, conforme a ordem dos mais cartapacios de Grammatica... |last=Portella |first=Mathias Rodrigues |date=1738 |publisher=Officina de Antonio Pedrozo Galram |location=Western Lisbon}}.</ref> and belongs to a broad [[oral tradition]] but the earliest currently attested form of the poem is the English [[marginalia]] inserted into a [[calendar of saints]] {{c.|1425}}:<ref name=tto>{{cite news |last=Bryan |first=Roger |date=30 October 2011 |title=The Oldest Rhyme in the Book |url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/article3209766.ece |publisher=Times Newspapers |location=London |ref={{harvid|Bryan|2011b}} }}.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Misstear |first=Rachael |title=Welsh Author Digs Deep to Find Medieval Origins of Thirty Days Hath Verse |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/need-to-read/2012/01/16/welsh-author-digs-deep-to-find-medieval-origins-of-thirty-days-hath-verse-91466-30128447 |date=16 January 2012 |publisher=Media Wales |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206080222/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/need-to-read/2012/01/16/welsh-author-digs-deep-to-find-medieval-origins-of-thirty-days-hath-verse-91466-30128447 |archive-date=6 February 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Memorable mnemonics |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |location=London |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9651000/9651594.stm |date=30 November 2011 }}.</ref> {{verse translation|Thirti dayes hath novembir April june and Septembir. Of xxviij is but oon And alle the remenaunt xxx and j.<ref name=tto/> |Thirty days have November, April, June, and September. Of 28 is but one And all the remnant 30 and 1.}} [[File:Month - Knuckles (en).svg|thumb|The [[knuckle mnemonic]] for the days of the months of the year]] Variations appeared in ''[[Mother Goose]]'' and continue to be taught at schools. The unhelpfulness of such involved [[mnemonic]]s has been parodied as "Thirty days hath September{{nbsp}}/ But all the rest I can't remember"<ref>{{citation |title=The Cincinnati Enquirer |date=20 September 1924 |location=Cincinnati |page=6 }}.</ref> but it has also been called "probably the only sixteenth-century poem most ordinary citizens know by heart".<ref name=holly>{{citation |last=Holland |first=Norman N. |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |title=The Critical I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uOdAwAAQBAJ |date=1992 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7uOdAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 64–5] |isbn=9780231076517 }}.</ref> A common nonverbal alternative is the [[knuckle mnemonic]], considering the [[knuckle]]s of one's [[hand]]s as months with 31 days and the lower spaces between them as the months with fewer days. Using two hands, one may start from either [[pinkie finger|pinkie]] knuckle as January and count across, omitting the space between the [[index finger|index]] knuckles (July and August). The same procedure can be done using the knuckles of a single hand, returning from the last (July) to the first (August) and continuing through. A similar mnemonic is to move up a [[musical keyboard|piano keyboard]] in [[semitone]]s from an F key, taking the white keys as the longer months and the black keys as the shorter ones. {{anchor|Week}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! 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