As the new year starts you might have recently bought a new diary or calendar and thought ‘Where do these words come from?’ – at least that’s what I did. There is also, of course, also the chance that you have been merrily scheduling in gym appointments and book clubs and all sorts of other details relating to New Year’s resolutions (have you kept yours so far?) but we’ll take the opportunity to add a resolution to your list: learn where we got the names for all the months of the year. Spoilers: it’s a mixture of gods, rulers, and numbers.
隨著新的一年的開始，可能你最近又買了一本新的日記本或日歷本，也許你會想：“日歷上這些關(guān)于月份的詞是從何而來的呢？”——至少我有這樣的疑問。當(dāng)然，也有可能你早已興致勃勃地安排好了你的新年計(jì)劃：去健身房鍛煉，加入讀書俱樂部以及其它各類活動（這些活動你現(xiàn)在還有堅(jiān)持下去嗎？）但借此機(jī)會，我們要給你的新年計(jì)劃再加上一項(xiàng)：了解一年十二個(gè)月名稱的來歷。劇透一下：它們與神、統(tǒng)治者和數(shù)字都有關(guān)系。

January 一月

January is named after the Roman god Janus, who presided over doors and beginnings – appropriately enough, for the beginning of the year (though this is, as you will discover, not as straightforward as it seems). Indeed, Janus was usually depicted with two faces looking backwards and forwards, as is often characteristic of a new year; this also gave rise to the term Janus word for words that have two opposite meanings.
January是以羅馬神話中雙面神杰納斯（Janus）的名字命名的。他負(fù)責(zé)司守門戶以及萬物的始末——作為一年的開始，他很適合（盡管你會發(fā)現(xiàn)，其實(shí)并沒有那么直觀）。事實(shí)上，杰納斯通常以雙面孔示人，一面回顧過去，一面注視未來，而這經(jīng)常被視為新的一年的特征；這也使得它的引申詞組“Janus word”（雙面詞）表示兼有兩種相反含義的詞。

February 二月

February is ultimately based on Latin februarius, from februa. In case that’s not helped things become clearer, februa was the name of a purification feast held on the 15th of this month. February is a divisive issue in modern pronunciation, with both Feb-yoo-ary and Feb-roo-ary being commonly heard.
February由拉丁語“februa”的衍生詞“februarius”演變而來。可能這樣說并沒有解釋得很清楚，這里再補(bǔ)充一下：“februa”是這個(gè)月十五號舉行的一場滌罪盛宴的名稱。在現(xiàn)代英語中，人們對“February”的發(fā)音產(chǎn)生了分歧，最常聽到的有兩種，一種是“Feb-yoo-ary”，還有一種是“Feb-roo-ary”。

March 三月

Which god gets a planet and a month named after him? You’ve guessed it: Mars. Why him? As the Oxford English Dictionary notes, ‘In ancient Rome several festivals of Mars took place in March, presumably in preparation for the campaigning season, since Mars was a god of war.’
有哪位神的名字既是一個(gè)星球的名字，又是一個(gè)月份的名字呢？你們已經(jīng)猜到了：馬爾斯（Mars）。為什么是他？《牛津英語詞典》上記載：“在古羅馬時(shí)期，一些有關(guān)于馬爾斯的節(jié)日都在三月舉行，想必是為了戰(zhàn)爭時(shí)期做準(zhǔn)備，因?yàn)轳R爾斯是一位戰(zhàn)神。”

April 四月

We know that the English word April comes from the Latin Aprillis, the fourth month of the ancient Roman calendar, but things are less clear after that. In Old English, April was also sometimes called Eastermonab, ‘Easter month’.
我們知道英文詞匯“April”來源于拉丁語“Aprillis”，是古羅馬日歷的第四個(gè)月，但除此之外，我們就不太清楚了。在古英語中，四月有時(shí)也被稱為“Eastermonth”，即“復(fù)活月”。

May 五月

The month is connected with the goddess Maia. Perhaps less well known now than the other deities with months named after them, Maia (in Greek mythology) was daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes. She was considered a nurturer and an earth goddess, which may explain the connection with this springtime month. Although may is a common modal verb, the month and the word are unrelated.
這個(gè)月與瑪雅女神（the goddess Maia）有關(guān)。與其他神相比，也許瑪雅并沒有那么為人們所熟知，在希臘神話中，她是阿特拉（Atlas）之女，同時(shí)也是赫爾墨斯（Hermes）之母。她被譽(yù)為養(yǎng)育者和大地女神，這或許可以解釋為什么它是屬于春季的月份。盡管“may”經(jīng)常被用作情態(tài)動詞，但它與五月并沒有關(guān)系。

June 六月

Having conceded one month to a Greek deity, we’re now back with the Romans: June is named after the ancient Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and goddess of marriage and childbirth. June was also once sometimes known as midsummer month.
前面已經(jīng)有一個(gè)月是以希臘女神命名的了，現(xiàn)在我們再次回到羅馬的神靈：六月是以古羅馬女神朱諾（Juno）命名的。她是主神朱庇特（Jupiter）的妻子，是婚姻與分娩之神。六月也曾一度被認(rèn)為是仲夏月。

July 七月

The first month in the calendar named after a real person, July was named in honour of Julius Caesar after his death in 44 BC, July being the month of his birth. Before it was renamed, the month was known as Quintilis (borrowed into English as Quintile), which means ‘fifth’. If you’ve been counting, you’ll know that July isn’t the fifth month: we’ll come on to that when we reach September and October.
July是日歷中第一個(gè)以真實(shí)的人物命名的月份，七月的命名是為了紀(jì)念尤里烏斯?凱撒（Julius Caesar）。公元前44年，凱撒大帝去世，七月是他出生的月份。在更名之前，這個(gè)月叫做“Quintilis”（英語則為“Quintile”），意為“第五”。如果你數(shù)過了的話，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)七月并不是第五個(gè)月：這一點(diǎn)在說到九月和十月的時(shí)候我們會做出解釋。

August 八月

Following suit, in 8 BC, the month Sextilis (‘sixth’) was renamed after Augustus, the first Roman emperor, who had died six years earlier. Augustus himself was given this title when he became emperor, having previously been known as Octavian. It came from the Latin augustus meaning ‘consecrated, venerable’ which gave rise to the English adjective august, ‘respected and impressive’.
同樣地，在公元前8年，“Sextilis” (‘sixth’)這個(gè)月以古羅馬第一位帝王奧古斯都（Augustus）來命名，他本人早于六年前去世。奧古斯都是他在成為帝王之時(shí)為自己改的名字，在這之前，他叫奧克塔維安（Octavian）。這個(gè)詞來源于拉丁語“augustus”，意為“神圣的、值得尊敬的”，由此，august在做形容詞時(shí)有“值得尊敬的”的意思。

September 九月

September follows on from Quinitlis and Sextilis, in that it comes from the Latin septem, ‘seven’. As with those (and the rest of the calendar), the numbering is a bit off now: September was originally the seventh month in an ancient Roman ten-month calendar, which started with March.
“September”排在“Quinitlis”和“Sextilis”之后，是因?yàn)樗鼇碓从诶≌Z“septem”，在這里是指第七個(gè)月。到這里，這些月份（以及日歷中其它月份）的排序方式就有點(diǎn)混亂了：在古羅馬的十月制日歷中，September是第七個(gè)月份，那個(gè)日歷是從March開始的。

October 十月

More of the same: octo is the Latin for ‘eight’, for that ten month calendar. Two months were added to the end of the calendar year around 713 BC, and the beginning of the year was moved to 1 January in 153 BC.
同理，“octo”在拉丁語中是八的意思，因此在十月歷中，它是指第八個(gè)月。在公元前713年左右，日歷年的年底又加了兩個(gè)月，公元前153年將一月一日作為一年的開始。

November 十一月

The pattern continues: November comes from novem, ‘nine’. November is also, we’re afraid, used ‘with allusion to November’s position at the end of the year, and to the characteristic greyness, gloominess, etc., associated with it in the northern hemisphere’. The earliest known example of this allusive use comes from Jane Austen’s posthumously published novel Persuasion.
還是相同的規(guī)律：“November”來源于拉丁語“novem”，即第九個(gè)月。我們認(rèn)為“Novembe”同樣也“暗指其處于年末，用以表示灰暗、陰郁等，與北半球相關(guān)”。這種暗指性的用法最早見于簡-奧斯汀（Jane Austen）去世后出版的《勸導(dǎo)》（Persuasion）一書中。

December 十二月

And we finish off the year with December, from decem, ‘ten’. The month also comes with a brace of adjectives: Decemberish and Decemberly, the latter of which can also be used as an adverb. And there you have it: a whole calendar year of etymologies to see you through the whole of 2016.
我們以“December”作為一年的終結(jié)，它來源于“decem”，這里指第十個(gè)月。這個(gè)詞還有兩個(gè)形容詞形式：“Decemberish”和“Decemberly”，后者還可用作副詞。以上就是可以伴你度過2016年的所有月份典故來源了。

英文來源：Oxford Dictionary blog

譯者：劉梅華GNNU

審校&編輯：馬文英