September

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English September,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin September,^[4][5][6] and later borrowed from Anglo-Norman setembre and septembre.^[4][6][7] The Latin is short for mēnsis September,^[4] from septem (“seven”), with -ber, also -bris, a suffix of uncertain origin found in the names of months.^[4][6] Latin septem is a distant relative of seven.^[8][6] It was the seventh month of the ancient Roman calendar, whose year began in March.^[4][6][5] Compare Spanish setiembre, Portuguese setembro, Italian settembre, Dutch september and German September.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The ninth month of the year: in Old English, in Byrhtferð's Enchiridion,^[4] about 1050 in Barnhart.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The name stopped matching the number when the start of the Roman year moved to 1 January: the OED dates that change to 153 BC,^[4] while Etymonline and Barnhart credit the Julian reform of 46 BC.^[6][5] Johnson (1755) still explains it as the seventh month from March.^[9] Old English also had its own names, hāligmōnað (“holy month”) and hærfestmōnað (“harvest month”), which the Latin replaced;^[4][6][10] the Old English Martyrology pairs the two languages.^[4] The Middle English form septembre from French gave way to the Latin spelling in the 1500s.^[5] From before 1393, in Gower, the month stood for a later stage of life, with an eye to its place at the end of summer.^[4][6] Septembrian was a noun in the 1640s for someone who believed that Jesus was born in September, and an adjective by 1800.^[6]

Timeline

• 1114 – the Middle English form Septembre.^[5]
• before 1393 – figurative, of a later stage of life, in Gower.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The ninth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, with 30 days.^[4][11][3]

Word family

• Septembrist

Related words

• seven
• septet
• septuagenarian
• October
• November
• December

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
3. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster