Etymologically
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Juli

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Pronunciation

Forms

Juli m (genitive Julis or Juli, plural Julis)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin Iūlius (“July”), short for mēnsis Iūlius, the month named after Gaius Julius Caesar, who reformed the calendar.[2][3][4] The German form comes from the Latin genitive Iūliī, used in dates.[3][4][5] The same borrowing is Dutch juli, English July, French juillet and Swedish juli.[2]

The old Roman year began on 1 March, so July was the fifth month, Quīntīlis, from quīntus (“fifth”).[3][4] After Caesar's reform made the year begin on 1 January, the month, now the seventh, was renamed in his honour.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Latin name spread in German from the 16th century through the language of chanceries and charters, and of the humanists, replacing the native Heumonat “hay month”.[3][4] In the Early New High German records it still has Latin inflection.[7] A Basel chronicle has uff den 14. tag jully “on the 14th day of July” and den 2. tag jully genant heuwmonet, glossing the new name with the old.[8]

Semantic evolution

Zesen tried in vain to bring back Heumonat, and in 1801 Campe proposed Brachmonat, an old name of June.[5] The Latin nominative Julius was also used, as in Lessing's letters.[8] Heine used the month figuratively for the heat of youth or passion: ich hab euch im besten juli verlassen “I left you in the height of July”.[8]

Timeline

  • 16th century – Juli replaces Heumonat in chancery language.[3][2]
  • 1536 – A Basel chronicle writes the Latin nominative jullius.[8]
  • 1801 – Campe proposes Brachmonat.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. July, the seventh month of the year.[9][1]
  • Latin Iūlius
  • English July

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 458
  3. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  5. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  7. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  8. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 2369
  9. ^ Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag