Why the root words in Latin don't match up with the months?

Answer 1

Yes, the names of the months match their Latin roots. January comes from Janua for the outer door of a house. February comes from februum for 'religious purification'. March comes from Mars the war god. April comes from aperire for 'to uncover, open'. May comes from Maia, the mother of Mercury the winged messenger of the gods. June comes from Iunius, as the name of a Roman clan. July comes from Iulius, as the name of the Roman clan formed by the descendants of Prince Aeneas of Dardania and Troy. August comes from Augusta, the wife of a Roman Emperor. September comes from septem for 'seven', October from octo for 'eight', November from novem for 'nine', and December from decem for 'ten'. The reason for the names of the last four months is the Roman identification of March as the first month of their year, April as the second, May as the third, June as the fourth, July as the fifth, and August as the sixth.

Answer 2

The names of the months come from the Julian calendar, attributed to Julius Caesar and he had 12 months and 366 days. The months were named for various gods and dignitaries and also from their place in his calendar. So, January is for Janus and March for Mars, etc., while September, October, November and December were the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th months in his calendar. This calendar was replaced by order of Pope Gregory the great and so we now use the Gregorian calendar.

Answer 3

Because the Romans wanted to flatter Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar, or flatter themselves, they inserted the months July (Julius) and August (Augustus). Thus month seven (septem - September) got pushed to number nine, 8 octo - October to #10, 9 novem - November to #11, 10 decem - December to #12.

Answer 4

The names of the months in Latin were based on earlier Roman calendars and religious practices, rather than directly related to the root words of the Latin language. Many month names are derived from Latin numbers (e.g. September from "septem" meaning seven) but the discrepancy arises from historical changes made to the calendar, resulting in mismatches between the root words and the months they represent.