Days, Months and Seasons

A Brief History of Time Measurement

(See also days months seasons in Japan)

longcase
by Luke Smyth, Yoxford, c.1795

Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana

Ever wondered why there are seven days in a week?

Our calendar originates from a mixture of pagan and mythical beliefs, including:

It's convenient for followers of a religion to conform to society norms, even when there's no religious connection.

For example, our way of measuring time (see hours, minutes and seconds) are based on an early Babylonian system, and our modern calendar is based on pagan practices and astrology.

But whether we have religious leanings or not, we don't think of the calendar as a pagan thing; it's merely a means to measure time, using things called 'days' and 'months'.

Calendar

The word "calendar" comes from observations of the moon, in particular, appearance of a new moon. The word can be traced back to the calends, the first day of the Roman month, when debts fell due and accounts were reckoned. That word in turn is from calare, which means to "call out" or "declare", as Roman priests ("pontiffs") did after witnessing a new moon that marked the calends.

What happened when the new moon was obscured by clouds?

Well in that case, the pontiffs would postpone the declaration until the next day. And if the moon was obscured over a prolonged period, the priests could use astronomical calculations or previous records to determine when the new moon was likely to occur. This could result in irregularities in the timing of festivals or events tied to the calendar.

The appearance of the new moon was crucial for being confident in declaring the beginning of the month. 

Origins of our day names

the seven celestial bodies
The seven celestial bodies

The days of the week are based on Greek mythology, renamed over the years to match the equivalent gods of north European mythology. (Similar names are used in other European languages, such as French, German, Italian and Spanish.)

But first, let's go back to the Babylonian astronomers who identified seven celestial bodies: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. They believed these revolved in Heaven around a stationary Earth and twinkly stars.

Having determined these bodies were pretty mysterious and therefore important, they had little to do other than amuse themselves by sitting on the banks of the Euphrates, looking up at the sky, stroking their chins and cogitating the concept of 'time'. 

They divided the daylight time into 12 hours; a Zodiacally convenient number which divides cleanly by 2, 3, 4 and 6. The night time was also divided by 12, but the length of day 'hours' and night 'hours' would differ according to the season.

And we're blessed with that "base 12" system today, even though it seems more natural to use the decimal (base 10) numeral system, which is easy to count using our fingers. In fact the ancient astronomers used two numeral systems: duodecimal (base 12) and sexagesimal (base 60) which gave us 60 seconds in each minute of a 60-minute hour. Those guys were super cleverists! 

Having identified which celestial bodies were worth further cogitootling, they observed planets moving against the background of fixed stars and tracked their apparent motion in the sky.

Saturn was the slowest, taking 29.5 years to complete a full cycle in the sky, giving ancient astronomers plenty of time to watch, wait and wonder why they didn’t pick a faster hobby.

Jupiter was the next slowest at 12 years, followed by Mars with a more reasonable 1.88 years, while the Sun kept things predictable, clocking in at just one zodiac year. Venus took 225 days, though with a rather complex retrograde motion, as if it couldn’t quite make up its mind. Mercury was even worse, zipping around in 88 days while constantly changing directions like a lost tourist. And then there was the Moon, absolutely flooring it at just 27.3 days.

Having sorted out the order of those celestial bodies, they named each hour of the day:

1st hour: Saturn
2nd hour: Jupiter
3rd hour: Mars
4th hour: Sun
5th hour: Venus
6th hour: Mercury
7th hour: Moon

The 8th hour then recycled to Saturn, as would the 15th and 22nd. Following this pattern, the 23rd hour was Jupiter, the 24th Mars, and the 1st hour of the next day would be the Sun.

From this method, the first hour of each day was named after:

1st day: Saturn (♄)
2nd day: Sun (☉ or ☼)
3rd day: Moon (☽)
4th day: Mars (♂)
5th day: Mercury (☿)
6th day: Jupiter (♃)
7th day: Venus (♀)
and so on.
01020304050607.....2324
♄♃♂☉♀☿☽.....♃♂
☉♀☿☽♄♃♂.....♀☿
☽♄♃♂☉♀☿.....♄♃
♂☉♀☿☽♄♃.....☉♀
☿☽♄♃♂☉♀.....☽♄
♃♂☉♀☿☽♄.....♂☉
♀☿☽♄♃♂☉.....☿☽

(Click here to see the complete grid.)

010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324
♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂
☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿
☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃
♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀
☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄
♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉
♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽♄♃♂☉♀☿☽

(Astro doodles: ♄ ☉ ☽ ♂ ☿ ♃ ♀ - Where they come from)

Following the Jewish day numbering system, with the last day of the week being Saturday, the first day of the week became:

Although our days are named after gods, the names were not regularly capitalized until the 17th century. Relating that prosaicism will do you no favours during dinner conversation, unless your companions are drunk.

Origins of our month names

No word in the English language rhymes with orange, silver or purple. Another non-rhyming word is 'month'.

The word 'month' stems from 'moon', and month names we use were chosen to celebrate Roman deities and emperors. (Similar names are used in other European languages, such as French, German, Italian and Spanish.)

The last four months are just based on a mundane numbering system. The year used to begin in March, so September through to December were months 7 to 10. A numbering system is still used in many cultures today for the whole year. Modern Japanese, for example, has 1-gatsu, 2-gatsu, 3-gatsu ... 12-gatsu. Similarly in Chinese: 1-yuè, 2-yuè, 3-yuè ... 12-yuè. (See days months seasons in Japan)

(Curiously, when Pope Gregory XIII changed the calendar system in 1582 and established the Gregorian calendar with January as the first month of the year, he didn't bother to rename any of these months. December, for example, could have been changed to acknowledge Advent or Christmas with Advenber or Chrisber.)

Origins of our season names

It's about time for some one-liners...

The length of time between slipping on a banana peel and smacking the pavement:
bananosecond.

What do you call a tense clock?
All wound up.

Why did the boy sit on his watch?
He wanted to be on time.

Why did you throw the clock out the window?
I wanted to see time fly.

By 'pagan', we are taking the widest definition of anything that is not monotheistic

There are a few theories about why the ancients used 60 (sexagesimal) as the base for their counting system. Here are a couple of the more popular:

Most of the world now uses the decimal system, ten being the number of our fingers and thumbs. Very handy.

We doubt the ancients had 60 fingers and thumbs, but nevertheless, it is likely they used their digits for counting.

Each finger (not the thumb) has three bones. By using the tip of the right thumb, you can count by pointing to the each of the three bones of each of the four fingers of the right hand, totalling 12. Having counted up to 12, raise a finger on the left hand, then start counting again to 12 on the right hand. After raising the thumb and all four fingers on the left hand, you've reached 60 (3 x 4 x 5).

Alternatively, they might have counted the average resting heart beat at 60 pulses per minute, and 60 of those, times 24, took exactly one day. What patience!

We think the finger-joint counting method is the most likely.

See A 60-second guide to 60 minutes

It's joke time!

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson go on a camping trip.

As they lay down for the night, Holmes says: "Watson, look up into the sky and tell me what you see".
Watson:
"I see millions and millions of stars."
Holmes:
"And Watson, as London's finest doctor, what does that tell you?"
Watson:
"Astronomically, it tells me that space is infinite, that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.

Theologically, it tells me that God is great and that we are small and insignificant.

Meteorologically, it tells me that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.

Holmes, as England's finest detective, what does it tell you?"
Holmes:
"Somebody's stolen our tent!"

1,339 QI Facts To Make Your Jaw Drop by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson & James Harkin (Faber & Faber £9.99)

See also Sun Cross.

Beard, M., North, J., & Price, S. (1998). Religions of Rome: Volume 1: A History. Cambridge University Press.

Broughton, T. R. S. (1951). The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Volume 1. American Philological Association.

Lendering, J. (2021). Roman Calendar Livius.org