英语中十二个月份词源的来历

英语中十二个月份词源的来历

你了解12个月份的来历吗？先小小地透露一下：
它们的来历和神、统治者以及数字有关。 January 一
月 January is named after the Roman god Janus, who
presided over doors and the beginning of the year (though this is,
as you will discover, not as straightforward as it seems). Indeed,
Janus was usually depicted with two faces looking backwards
and forwards, as is often characteristic of a new year; this also
gave rise to the term Janus word for words that have two
opposite meanings. 一月是以罗马 看守门户的Janus命名
的，他负责守门以及新一年的开端，尽管这样，你会发现它
似乎不止 有一面。事实上，Janus常常以两张望向相反方向
的面孔示人，这也是新的一年所具备的特点：既要 回顾过去，
又要展望未来。这样的形象又赋予了“Janus”具有相反含义
的特性。 February 二月 February is ultimately
based on Latin februarius, from februa. In case that’s not helped
things become clearer, februa was the name of a
purificationfeast held on the 15th of this month. February is a
divisive issue in modern pronunciation, with both Feb-yoo-ary
and Feb-roo-ary being commonly heard. 二月形成于拉丁
语“februarius”中的“februa”。考虑到大家可能还没有明白

它的意思，这边再补充说明一下：“februa”是2月15日举
行的一个净化盛宴的名字。现代人 对February的发音持有不
一样的见解，主要有两种读法，第一种是Feb-yoo- ary，第二
种是Feb-roo-ary。 March 三月 Which god gets a
planet and a month named after him? You’ve guessed it: Mars.
Why him? As the Oxford English Dictionary notes, ‘In ancient
Rome several festivals of Mars took place in March,
presumablyin preparation for the campaigning season, since
Mars was a god of war.’ 哪位神灵拥有一个星球并有一个
月份以它命名？你也许猜是“Mars”。为什么是他呢 ？牛津
英语(精品课)词典里标注道：在古罗马，几个和火星有关的
节日都发生在三月，也许这 些节日都和准备战争的活动有
关，因为Mars是一位战神。 April 四月 We know
that the English word April comes from the Latin Aprillis, the
fourth month of the ancient Roman calendar, but things are less
clear after that. In Old English, April was also sometimes called
Eastermonab, ‘Easter month’. 我们都知道英语单词
“April”来源于拉丁语“Aprillis”，在古罗马 的日历上，这
是第四个月，但之后的一些事情我们就不大知晓了。在古英
语里“April”有 时也被称为“Eastermonab”，意为：“复活月”。
May 五月 The month is connected with the goddess
Maia. Perhaps less well known now than the otherdeitieswith

months named after them, Maia (in Greek mythology) was
daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes. She was considered a
nurturer and an earth goddess, which may explain the
connection with this springtime month. Although may is a
common modal verb, the month and the word are unrelated.
五月和神灵Ma ia（玛雅）有关。玛雅也许没有其他神灵为人
们所熟知，在希腊神话中玛雅是Atlas（阿特拉斯） 之女和
Hermes（爱马仕）之母。她被认为是一位养育者和一位地球
女神，这也解释了Ma y和春季月份的关系。may是一个情态
动词，但是月份的“May”和情态动词的“may”是不相关
的。 June 六月 Having conceded one month to a
Greek deity, we’re now back with the Romans: June is named
after the ancient Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and
goddess of marriage and childbirth. June was also once
sometimes known as midsummer month. 介绍了一位希腊
神灵，现在我们继续讲讲罗 马的神灵。“June”是以古罗马神
灵“Juno”命名的。朱诺是Jupiter（丘比特）之妻， 掌管着
婚姻和生育分娩的事务。六月一度被认为是仲夏月。 July
七月 The first month in the calendar named after a real
person, July was named in honour of Julius Caesar after his
death in 44 BC, July being the month of his birth. Before it was
renamed, the month was known as Quintilis (borrowed into

English as Quintile), which means ‘fifth’. If you’ve been
counting, you’ll know that July isn’t the fifth month: we’ll come
on to that when we reach September and October. 这是第一
个以人名命名的月份，“July”的命名是为了纪念Julius Caesar
（ 裘里斯凯撒），他于公元前44年去世，七月正好是他出生
的月份。在这个月份更名之前，它叫做“Qu intilis”，英语中
即为“Quintile”，意为“第五”。如果你会数数的话，你会发现，“July”并不是第五个月份。关于这个问题，等我们提到
“September” 和“October”的时候再解释。 August 八
月 Following suit, in 8 BC, the month Sextilis (‘sixth’) was
renamed after Augustus, the first Roman emperor, who had died
six years earlier. Augustus himself was given this title when he
became emperor, having previously been known as Octavian. It
came from the Latin augustus meaning ‘consecrated,
venerable’ which gave rise to the English adjective august,
‘respected and impressive’. 同样地，在公元前8世纪，
Sextilis (‘sixth’)这个月更名了，以罗马第一位帝王A ugustus
（奥古斯都）命名。他于公元前8世纪前六年去世。奥古斯
都在他成为帝王的那 一天起也更名为“August，之前他叫做
“Octavian”（屋大维）。这个词来源于拉丁语“ augustus”，
意为“神圣的，值得尊敬的 ”，这也就赋予了英译词汇
“august”（这里作为形容词）“值得尊敬的”的意思。

September 九月 September follows on from Quinitlis
and Sextilis, in that it comes from the Latin septem, ‘seven’.
As with those (and the rest of the calendar), the numbering is a
bit off now: September was originally the seventh month in an
ancient Roman ten-month calendar, which started with March.
“Septembe r”之所以在“Quinitlis”和“Sextilis”之后，因
为它来源于拉丁语“septe m”，这里是第七的意思。这样的话，
算上日历本里剩下的月份，我们现在有点混乱了。
“Se ptember”起初在古罗马10个月的日历中是排第七个的，
那个10个月的日历中，第一个月份是 “March”。 October
十月 More of the same: octo is the Latin for ‘eight’, for
that ten month calendar. Two months were added to the end of
the calendar year around 713 BC, and the beginning of the year
was moved to 1 January in 153 BC. 同样地，“octo”在拉
丁语中是“eight”（八）的意思，因为那个 10个月的日历。
大约在公元前713年的时候，日历的最后加上了两个月，在
公元前153年 的时候，一年的开始从一月份计算了。
November 十一月 The pattern continues: November
comes from novem, ‘nine’. November is also, we’re afraid,
used ‘with allusionto November’s position at the end of the
year, and to the characteristic greyness, gloominess, etc.,
associated with it in the northern hemisphere’. The earliest

known example of this allusive use comes from Jane Austen’s
posthumously published novel Persuasion. 同上：
“November”来自“n ovem”，在古罗马日历中位于第9个月。
我们觉得“November”同样也暗指它处在年末，具 有灰暗，
晦暗的意思，通常和北半球有关。这个暗指性地用法最早出
现在简奥斯汀死后出版的小 说《说服》。 December 十
二月 And we finish off the year with December, from
decem, ‘ten’. The month also comes with a brace of adjectives:
Decemberish and Decemberly, the latter of which can also be
used as an adverb. And there you have it: a whole calendar year
of etymologies to see you through the whole of 2016.
最后我们来讲讲“December”，来源于“decem”，最初指的
是十月。这个词还有 一些形容词形式：“Decemberish”和
“Decemberly”，后者还可以作为副词。好 了，这就是和2016
所有月份的有关的典故来源了。