hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2017-04-15

■ #2910. 月名の由来 [etymology][calendar][latin][greek][month]

　「#2890. 3月，March，弥生」 ([2017-03-26-1])，「#2896. 4月，April，卯月」 ([2017-04-01-1]) で月名の由来について紹介したが，英語の月名について，12ヶ月分の由来をざっと確認しておこう．以下は，Judge (91) の囲み記事からの引用．

January: Dedicated to Janus --- god of gates, doors and beginnings and endings
February: Comes from februarius mensis --- month of purification --- for the Roman feast of purification held at that time.
March: Dedicated Mars --- Roman god of war. In the ancient Roman calendar (up until 46 BCE) the year began in March, with the spring equinox.
April: Dedicated to the Roman goddess Venus --- Aphrodite in Greek.
May: From Maia, an earth goddess whose name derives from Indo-European megha --- Great One (this is the same origin for English mega-).
June: In honor of the Roman goddess Juno.
July: Originally called Quintilis (fifth month) but change when dedicated to Julius Caesar because he was born in this month.
August: Named after Augustus Caesar, the first Roman emperor.
September: Means the seventh month of the year --- in the ancient calendar which started in March.
October, November and December mean the eighth, ninth and tenth months.

　いずれもラテン語やギリシア語からの伝統を引きずった文化的借用語である．
　September と seven の音韻形態的に関係については，「#352. ラテン語 /s/ とギリシャ語 /h/ の対応」 ([2010-04-14-1]) を参照．

　・ Judge, Gary. The Timeline History of the English Language. Yokohama: Cogno Graphica, 2010.

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