Why the Months Make No Sense

Have you ever looked at the calendar and thought, “Well, that makes no sense”?

• October starts with “oct,” but it’s not the 8th month.
• November starts with “nov,” but it’s not the 9th month.
• December starts with “dec,” but it’s not the 10th month.

I always encourage people to pay attention to the Greek and Latin roots, but sometimes, they can mislead you! That’s why stories are such a great (and important) part of improving your vocabulary – they explain the inconsistencies.

And this story, as with so many others, begins in ancient Rome.

You see, when the ancient Romans first implemented a calendar, it had only ten months, plus a bunch of “off” days before the calendar started back up. It makes perfect sense when you think about why they created the calendar in the first place.

The calendar was primarily used to plan farming and agricultural activities, and there were two months a year where you couldn’t do much to the soil.

The calendar began in March (in honor of Mars, the god of war). So to the ancient Romans, the numbers matched up perfectly!

The biggest change wasn’t adding January and February, though. I explain it all in episode 60 of the Vocabbett podcast!