The Origin of December

The Origin of December

December is here: store fronts are festooned with holiday decorations, the cold is setting in, and another year is reaching its close. December has marked the end of the year and the beginning of winter since the ancient Romans established their first calendar. As its etymology indicates, December is formed from the Latin root decem- “ten,” however December is our twelfth month. The strange numbering discrepancy is also present for the months of September, October, and November, which mean “seven,” “eight,” and “nine,” even though they are our ninth, tenth, and eleventh months, respectively.

This is because the ancient Roman calendar had only ten months in the year, which began in March. Eventually January and February were added to the end of the year after December, though by the time the Julian calendar was established in 45 B.C., January and February appeared at the beginning of the year, bumping all of the original months back by two, and leaving the names as they were originally assigned.

Before December entered Old English, the terms for December were Ǣrra Gēola or Gēolmōnað, “yule month.” The early Germanic people celebrated the mid-wintery season during a time that was calledyuletide, a two-month period that spanned December and January. 

With the rise of Christianity, the yule was condensed and adopted into the liturgical year under the Christian name Christmastide, which begins on Christmas day and lasts a total of twelve days—the twelve days of Christmas. Our memory of the yule may be limited to yule logs, but every time Santa is described as “jolly,” you can take comfort in the fact that “jolly” may have derived from the same Old Norse root that brought us yule.

Even if we no longer call it the “yule month,” the association we have with December and the holidays has not diminished. What better way to keep up our spirits as we face another cold winter than the Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve?

Source: dictionary.com