Thursday, September 13, 2018

The Middle Of The Month

One of the clues in today's crossword puzzle was "Mid-month date". Thanks to William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar I guessed that the answer was Ides (because of the events of the Ides of March). But the clue got me thinking....I didn't know that there was more than one Ides.  Wanting to know more, I turned to timeanddate.com, where I learned about the Calends, Nones, and Ides:
  • The Calends (Kalendae) were the first days of each month. The name is derived from the Greek word meaning to announce. It may have been used to “announce” the day of the New Moon, or the first sliver of the Waxing Crescent Moon.
  • The Ides (Idus) occurred one day before the middle of each month. Depending on the month's length, it fell on the 13th or 15th day. In the lunar calendar, the Ides marked the day of the Full Moon.
  • The Nones (Nonae) fell on the 7th day of 31-day months and on the 5th day of 29-day months, marking the day of the First Quarter Moon.
The whole system sounded confusing to me. I wonder if an ancient Roman were to be transplanted to today if our system of dates would be as baffling to her.

Five years ago today: Thanks For The Information
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6 comments:

  1. ChristineSeptember 13, 2018 at 9:51 PM

    calends and nones is new to me.

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    Replies
    1. Kathy GSeptember 14, 2018 at 7:33 AM

      I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who learned something new today :-)

      Delete
  2. Victor S E MoubarakSeptember 14, 2018 at 6:19 AM

    The Greeks and the Romans have a lot to answer for. What exactly did they give us to be thankful for? Apart from democracy, the Olympic Games, olives, Roman numerals, aqueducts, roads, television, what else?

    God bless.

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  3. Karen @BakingInATornadoSeptember 14, 2018 at 10:24 AM

    This is another instance of how I just love living in the age of the internet, whatever question I have I can quickly and easily find the answer to. Yes, I bet if an ancient Roman were transported here she'd be baffled, by pretty much everything.

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    Replies
    1. Kathy GSeptember 15, 2018 at 8:27 AM

      Yes, (with an internet connection) any possible bit of information is available at the tips of your fingers.

      Delete