Etymologically
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September

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sɛpˈtɛm.bɛr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [sepˈtɛm.ber][1]

Forms

September (feminine Septembris); third-declension three-termination adjective[1] As a noun: September m (genitive Septembris).[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin septem (“seven”),[4][5] because it was the seventh month of the Roman year, counted from March.[4][2][6] The OLD compares the ending with that of December.[4] Wiktionary calls its origin uncertain and suggests an earlier *septe(m)-mēmbris (“of the seventh month”), shortened by haplology, with a derivative of mēnsis (“month”).[1]

Isidore of Seville explained the name by the number seven and by imber (“rain”), since it is the seventh month from March and brings rain.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it first in Afranius (second half of the 2nd century BC),[5][8] as an adjective meaning “of the seventh month”.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was usually joined to mensis, mense Septembri “in September”,[2][4] but was also used alone as a noun.[4][3] It named the seventh month of the old year, which became the ninth.[4][2] Lewis & Short note that it had thirty days, as now.[2] Ecclesiastical Latin keeps both the adjective and the noun.[9]

English took the name from Old French and directly from Latin in late Old English,[6] and Latin September is also the source of Spanish setiembre and Italian settembre.[6]

Timeline

  • 2nd half of the 2nd century BC – Afranius uses it as an adjective.[5][8]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it alone as a noun.[3][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero writes mense Septembri.[2][8]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it.[2][8]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains it from the number seven and rain.[7][8]
  • late Old English – English borrows it as September.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of September: mensis September, the month of September.[4][3]

Noun

  1. September, the seventh month of the old Roman year, later the ninth.[4][2][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson