May 17, 2008 08:11
Month of September
Sept is a prefix with Latin roots meaning "seventh". It may seem strange that the ninth month (September) should have a prefix meaning seven. This came about because in ancient Rome there were only ten months and the first month was March. When Numa Pompilius, the Roman King, changed the calendar in about 700 B.C. he added two months. The Roman Senate rolled back the date of the New Year in 153 B.C., but the senators did not bother to change the names of the numbered months to conform with their new position in the calendar. When the name "September" came to England via Old French, it replaced h