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Hrsanei Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary

October

Hi.

The prefix Oct means eight like in octogenerian, octet. But why is october the tenth month of the year?

What is the origin?

Thanks
  

Top answer

Because there were originally ten months in the Roman Calendar, and it was the eighth month then (the Romans did not have any winter months). C. At that time, actually, October was still the eighth month, because January and February were at the end of the year, not the beginning.

— CSnyder

  • Because there were originally ten months in the Roman Calendar, and it was the eighth month then (the Romans did not have any winter months).
  • C.
  • At that time, actually, October was still the eighth month, because January and February were at the end of the year, not the beginning.
  • Either Numa or the Decemvirs (c.
  • ) then shifted the calendar around again so that January and February came at the beginning of the year.
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3 Answers
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Because there were originally ten months in the Roman Calendar, and it was the eighth month then (the Romans did not have any winter months). But then the Roman king Numa Pompilius inserted January and February into the year, circa 700ish B.C. At that time, actually, October was still the eighth month, because January and February were at the end of the year, not the beginning. Either Num
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October

Read the first lines...

This also from Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary: "
Etymology:Middle English Octobre, from Old English & Anglo-French; Old English October, from Latin, 8th month of the early Roman calendar, from octo; Anglo-French, from Lat
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Thank you all.

I think the same concept applies to the fact that we use september for the nineth and december for the twelfth month of the year.

Thanks
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