Roman months

I hinted yesterday about the names of the months and their relation to their place in the calendar.  The Roman calendar originally began with the month of March, so the months of September, October, November, and December all betray their origin in their name (Septem=Seven, Octo=Eight, Novem=Nine, and Decem=Ten).  Also, before the Empire, the names for July and August were Quintilis (Quinque=Five) and Sextilis (Sex=Six).  They were renamed for the first two Roman emperors, Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar.

Another indication that the year used to begin in March is that the month for adding extra days to keep the calendar in line with the sun, and which to this day we use to add a day for leap year, is the month at the 'end' of the calendar: February. (The Romans, prior to Julius Caesar's reform of the calendar, used to add a month at a time in the middle of February to keep the clanedar and the sun in synch).