Were the names of the 10 months in the ancient Roman Calendar originally named after ordinal numbers?

Upvote:-3

Yes!

The Roman calendar was only 10 months long and included the following months: Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December. The last six months were assigned names according to their ordinal numbers.

Source: https://www.dictionary.com/e/september/#

Upvote:3

Short answer is No they were not. thought there are a couple of answers here, the two new added months were January which is also named after a god, ie Janus. Also February which wasnt in the orginal calendar was named after Februum, a time for purification.

The first 10 months of the old Roman Calendar were not all named after numbers or gods:

Martis - Mars god of war

Aprilis - thought to be based on the roman word for open, as in flower buds open

Mauis - Maia goddess of fertility

Iunius - Juno goddess of love and the state (though some claim its from the Junius family)

Quintilis - 5

Sextilis - 6

September - 7

October - 8

November - 9

December - 10

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