Tap on any of the following Latin, English, and Anglo-Saxon months and you will be taken to the 2002 format of a calendar with moon phases for this particular year.

A.D. Years

The initials A.D. is an abbreviation of anno Domini, "in the year of the [our] Lord" which indicates the Christian era from "the birth of Christ" onward.

One of the problems with this system is that there is no real consensus as to when Christ was really born. According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, "The system of dating was introduced by the monk Dionysius Exiguus who lived in the first half of the 6th century."

In formal writing, the initials A.D. are usually presented in small capital letters and precede the specific dates in the Christian era; for example, A.D. 1999.

When a reference to a date prior to the birth of Christ is indicated, the initials B.C. go after the date; for example, 45 B.C. An informal usage of A.D. may sometimes follow the date, particularly when the date is general and not specific; therefore, one may say, "during the twentieth century A.D. " (Based on information found in Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage by William and Mary Morris; Harper & Row, Publishers; N Y, 1975.)

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A.U.C. or Ab Urbe Condita

A.U.C. (ab urbe condita, i.e. "from the establishment of the city [Rome]") is customarily used to indicate Roman years and traditionally started in 753 B.C. The Latin elements ab = "from", urbe = "city", and condere = "to build", or "to found". To determine the current A.U.C. year, subtract the B.C. year from 754 or if you want to know the equivalent A.D. year, add the A.D. year to 753.

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Sunnandaeg and other Anglo-Saxon Day Names

The New Style, or "western calendar", names for the English and Germanic days of the week are from the Anglo-Saxons. Our modern-English "Sunday" was originally sunnandaeg (sun's day) which is believed to have survived from the ancient worship of the sun. There are more details about Sunnandaeg, that will give you a better idea of the importance this day had in the past.

The Anglo-Saxon monandaeg, of course, stands for moon’s day and became our Monday. There are more details about Monandaeg, that will give you a better view point which this day had in the past.

Tuesday, Tiwesdaeg (Tiw’s day) was named for Tyr, the Norse god of war and battle. There are more details about Tiwesdaeg which you will find on this page.

From the Anglo-Saxon’s Wodensdaeg (Woden's day), we get Wednesday. In Teutonic mythology, Odin, Woden, Woutan, and Votan [plus hundreds of other names], was the one-eyed patriarch and chief of the gods; god of wisdom and war. There is more information about Wodensdaeg which you may examine.

Thor, a Scandinavian thunder-and-lightning god, corresponding to Rome’s Jove is why the Latin dies jovis, Jove's Day became Thursday (Thor's Day). There are more details about Thursdaeg here.

She was known as Frigga, Frigg, Frija, and Fri, but Frigedaeg (Frigg's day) became our Friday. There is more information about Frigedaeg, the only goddess in the week-day names.

Saturn was the Roman name for the Greek Cronus, the primitive earth god of agriculture. You will find more about Saterndaeg, a Roman god who's name represents sadness or even depression.

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Calends, the First Day of Every Roman Month

The Calends (Kalends) was always the first day of the Roman-calendar month and one of the three major divisions of the month as were the Nones and the Ides.

• The English word, "calendar", is a direct descendant of the Roman Calends.
• The Calends or "callings" of the Nones as either the fifth or seventh days of the months sometimes coincided with the days of the visible "new moon" or waxing crescent.
• The "calling" was made by a pontiff who addressed Juno Covella either five or seven times to date the Nones as the fifth or the seventh day for each particular month.
• As a result of speaking to Juno Covella on every Kalends, all Kalends were sacred to Juno.

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Ides, an Essential Element of Every Roman Month

The Ides was one of the three major points, or dividers, in the Roman calendar from which all of the other days were counted, the others being the Calends and the Nones.

• The Ides fell on the thirteenth day in all months except March, May, Sextilis (July) and October; when it fell on the fifteenth of those months.
• Originally, the Ides were considered the "dividers" which split the old thirty-day month in half.
• The Ides were supposed to take place sixteen days before the last day of the month, because half of thirty was sixteen, not fifteen, on the duodecimal system which the Romans used in computing fractions.
• Some scholars believe that the Ides became prominent because they were sometimes concurrent with the days of the full moon and they were sacred to Jupiter.

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JP or the Julian Period

The Julian Period is a numberical system used to count the years from January 1, 4713 B.C. onward. The Julian period was devised in A.D.1582 by a French classical scholar, Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1609), and was not named after his father (despite the fact that his father's name was Julius Caesar Scaliger) as so many refererences say; including widely recognized encyclopedias, dictionaries of astronomy, and other astronomy references.

Joseph Scaliger did name his Julian Period and Julian Days after the Julian (Julius Caesar) calendar, but there is no other connection to the Julian calendar. So we have a Julian year (Julius Caesar), a Julian Period (not from Julius Caesar), and the Julian Day (neither from Julius Caesar nor the system used by some U.S. government agencies for purchase dates, inspections, etc.).

To summarize: The Julian Period should not be confused with the Julian calendar; the only feature it shares with this calendar is the Julian year of 365.25 days. The Julian Period disregards the smaller units found in most calendars; such as, the "week" and the "month". The only small unit of measure it considers is the "mean solar day".

Joseph Justus Scaliger had the Julian Day (JD) start at noon, January 1, 4713 B.C., which was the most recent time that three major chronological cycles began.

The three cycles include: (1) the 28-year "solar cycle", after which dates in the Julian (Caesar's) calendar return to the same days of the week; (2) the 19-year "lunar cycle" (also known as the "Golden Number"), after which the phases of the moon return to the same dates of the year; and (3) the 15-year Roman indiction cycle, used in ancient Rome to regulate taxes and which was also used throughout the Middle Ages.

It will take 7,980 years to complete the period, the product of 28 X 19 X 15 (= 7,980). This period will "end" in A.D. 3267. The starting day of this system (that is, day 0.0) corresponds to noon, Greenwich mean time, on January 1, 4713 B.C. At “0” hours Universal time on any day, the decimal part of the Julian date is .5 exactly. Gets a little complicated doesn't it?

How do I dare say that all of those other "references" are wrong about Scaliger’s naming the Julian Period and Day?

It seems that a scholar by the name of Anthony T. Grafton (Professor of History, Princeton University) wrote a book titled, Joseph Scaliger: A Study in the History of Classical Scholarship, Volume II, Historical Chronology, published in 1993 by Clarendon Press, Oxford University.

In the book (page 250), he quotes Joseph Scaliger as saying, "I have called the period Julian because it is laid out for the Julian year only. If the chronologer will arrange all historical epochs and tables of years with regard to this technical period, he will save himself and his readers much work."

What he really wrote was, "Iulianam vocavimus, quia ad annum Iulianum duntaxat accommodata est. Si igitur Chronologus omnes epochas historicas et annos etiam expansos ad hanc periodum dirigat, magno labore et se et lectores levaverit." These words were written in Scaliger’s De emendatione on page 198, in 1583 (JP 6296).

How can one determine Julian Periods (JP)? When calculating B.C. dates, subtract them from 4714; to determine A.D. years, just add the years to 4713 and you’ll have the JP.

About the only people who use the JP and JD systems are astronomers, but that's no reason to deprive you of the opportunity to have access to some good, if "useless", material is it? Who knows, you may know something that will help you win when you play Jeopardy®.

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JD or the Julian Days

The JD (Julian Days) is a numerical system used to count the days consecutively from January 1, 4713 B.C. onward at noon UT (universal time which is related to GMT).

Based on The Astronomical Almanac, 1995, published by the U.S. Naval Observatory and the Royal Greenwich Observatory. For more details, see the preceding discussion about the Julian Period.

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Latin Names for the Days of the Week Used in Most Modern-Romance Languages

Our "western" calendar, also known as the Gregorian, or New Style Calendar, is based on the Roman calendar that was in existence for hundreds of years before the Christian era (also called the C.E., Common Era) and so the Latin day names should be known.

• Sunday was the Roman dies solis or "day of the sun".
• Monday was the Roman dies lunae or "day of the Moon".
• Tuesday was the Roman dies Martis or "day of Mars".
• Wednesday was the Roman dies Mercurii or "day of Mercury".
• Thursday was the Roman dies Jovis or "day of Jove".
• Friday was the Roman dies Veneris or "day of Venus".
• Saturday was the Roman dies Saturni or "day of Saturn".

Sunday and other Modern-English Day Names

The names we use in modern English for the days of the week are derived from the Anglo-Saxon day names. If you want an explanation of our English day names, see "sunnandaeg and other Anglo-Saxon day names" above by tapping the directory and you will be able to see the historical background for our week days.

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Nones, a Part of Every Roman Month

The Nones were the "ninth-days" before, and including, the Ides, sometimes marking the days of the moon's first quarter. The Calends or "callings" of the Nones as either the fifth or seventh days of the months sometimes coincided with the days of the visible new moon (or waxing crescent).

The "calling" was made by a pontiff who addressed Juno Covella either five or seven times to date the Nones as the fifth or the seventh day for each particular month. The Nones always fell on the fifth day of all months except Martius, Maius, Quintilis (Julius:, and Octobris when Nones occurred on the seventh day.

Since the priest always spoke to Juno Covella on every Kalends, all Kalends were sacred to Juno.

On the Nones, the rex sacrorum announced the festivals or feriae for the month; which explains why almost all sacra publica occur after the Nones of the months.

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Pridie Days of the Month

Pridie simply means "the day before" a particular date in the Roman calendar. March 14, for example, was expressed in Latin as, pridie Idus Martias, and means "the day before the Ides of March". There were three pridie days in Roman calendars: Pridie Nonas (Nones), Pridie Idus (Ides), and Pridie Kalendas (Calends).

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Phases of the Moon

Detailed information explaining the various moon phases is provided so when the reader looks up at the moon, he/she can specify which phase the moon is presenting.

Moon facts

Six parts, with information and illustrations about historical and current perspectives regarding moon facts; starting with part 1 of 6 sections, showing the moon's influences on various aspects of calendars, the earth, and people who have considered it a very important part of their lives.

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"Whole Ball of Wax"

Could the phrase The whole ball of wax have anything to do with the phases of the moon?

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Sources of information for the links shown on this page are located at this Calendars Bibliography Unit.

Related "time" units: aevum, evum; archaeo-, archeo-; chrono-; horo-; pre-; Quotes: Time; tempo-.