Most of us know the month of July in the Gregorian calendar
is named for Julius Caesar,
but I found a web site (source information below)
that describes the different names for July over the ages.
When the Julian calendar was in use,
July was the fifth month, not the seventh.
In that time, it was called Quintilius.
morguefile.com by Seemann
But I like the Anglo-Saxon names for the month better.
In Old English, "month" was "monað,"
so July was called "hég monað" (for hay month) in some dialects
and "mæd monað" (meadow month) in others.
Probably a good thing language changes;
otherwise we'd be wishing each other
Happy Fourth of Quintilius or Happy Fourth of Hég Monað every summer.
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Source Information: the information about the name of July is from the web site egreenway.com devoted to quotes about the seasons and gardening. The quotes
are compiled by Karen and Mike Garofalo, however, they don't include a source for this quote. The Garofalos described the Anglo-Saxon names as heymonath
and mædmonath, but the more accurate forms from the Oxford English Dictionary are shown above.
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