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29 | 30 | 31 |
Latin: September. From the word septem, seven (it was the 7th month in the old Roman calendar). September came into Old English from Old French, replacing the Old English forms, Häligmönaò and Hærfestmönaò, which mean “harvest month” in Modern English.*
Some months are 30 days long, some are 31, and February is 28, or 29 on leap year. September has 30 days but at one time, the number of days was less than 30 and the number of days ended in 9. Was it 29? If not, then what was it and when?
... September has 30 days but at one time, the number of days was less than 30, and the number of days was not 29, but still ended with a 9. When? In 1752, September had only 19 days, ... at least in the American Colonies and Great Britain, but not in all countries. The reason was that 170 years earlier, back in 1582, the calendar year was off from the solar year; this was a flaw in the Julian calendar. Based on the computations of Aloysius Lilius, a physician from Naples, via Calabria (some modifications were made by the commisson that studied his work, made mostly by Christopher Clavius). To get back on track, Pope Gregory XIII (after whom the Gregorian Calendar is named) decreed that 10 days had to be jumped over. Therefore, the decree was that Thursday, October 4th would be followed by Friday the 15th. For this one year, October had 21 days, but remember that Pope Gregory XIII was in Italy. Most Catholic countries changed in 1582, even though some did not change in October, but other countries waited until much later. Some waited so long that by then, they had to jump over more than 10 days. Great Britain and the American Colonies waited until September 1752 (170 years later) to make the switch. By then 11 days had to be left out, making Wednesday, the 2nd be followed by Thursday, the 15th, thus making September have only 19 days. Since the changes took place in different months for different countries, several months have at one time had a different number of days. Learn more: Calendar Adoption
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