August

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English august,^[2][3] inherited from Old English Agustus,^[4][1] borrowed from Latin Augustus, also Agustus,^[1][5] later reinforced by the Anglo-Norman and Old French forms such as aust and aoust.^[1][6] The Latin is short for mēnsis Augustus, named after Augustus, the title of Octavius Caesar, the first Roman emperor,^[1][7][8][2] from the adjective augustus (“venerable, majestic”), the source of august.^[1][7][9] It was the sixth month of the ancient Roman calendar, Sextīlis, until it was renamed in 8 BC.^[1][5][10] The OED explains that several of the main events of Augustus's rise to power, ending in the fall of Alexandria, had happened in this month.^[1] Compare Spanish agosto, Portuguese agosto, Italian agosto and French août.^[1] In Dutch oogst and older German Augst the name also came to mean "harvest".^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The eighth month of the year: in Old English, in the translation of Alexander's Letter to Aristotle, as on Agustes monþe;^[1] Barnhart dates it to 1097, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,^[8] and Etymonline to the late 11th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Latin name displaced the Old English Wēodmōnað (“weed month”),^[8][6][1] and texts also use hærfest (“harvest”) for the month.^[1] Etymonline points out that it was one of two months renamed for Roman leaders, along with July.^[5][10] Ayto notes that the Senate gave the title to Octavian in 27 BC with the meaning of imperial majesty.^[7] The adjective august, stressed on the second syllable, was borrowed separately in the 17th century.^[11][12][8]

Timeline

• Old English – the eighth month, as the Latin word.^[1] Barnhart's first record is from 1097.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, with 31 days.^[1][2][11]

Related words

• Augustan
• Augustine
• Augustinian
• Augustus
• Austin
• august
• augur
• augment
• July
• sextile

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
7. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press