Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.695

c8.695

2). *English months.*
i) January has come from the word Janus, the name of a Roman devatā. Janus is twinfaced, one facing the front and the other back.
ii) February means 'to purify' and the festival of purification of the Romans is conducted in that month.
iii) March is Mars, a devatā of War. Rome was built by the brave warrior Romulus. In his time there were only ten months in a year and the number of days in a month varied considerably. There were months with twenty days and thirtyfive days. It was in the year 700 B.C. that the then King of Rome, Numa, divided the year into twelve months and added January and February to it. Till then March was the first month of the year.
iv) April—Aperio means 'blossoming' and since the trees and plants blossom in that month it got the name of April.
v) May is named after Maia daughter of the demigod (devatā) Atlas. There is an opinion that it is named after Maius, another name of Jupiter.
vi) June gets its name after the devatā Juno though there is a version that it is named after a Roman tribe called Junius.
vii) July was formerly known as Quintilis meaning the fifth counting from March which was the first month of the year till the time of Numa. It was to commemorate the name of Julius Caesar that the name was changed to July. viii) August. This month was formerly known as Sextilis meaning the sixth month. But it was renamed August in honour of Augustus Caesar. But it still lacked the importance of July as it contained thirtyone days and August only thirty days. So Augustus took one day from February and made the number of days in August thirtyone.
ix) September means the seventh month from March.
x) October means the eighth month.
xi) November means the ninth month.
xii) December means the tenth month.