An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A time interval lasting 235 → lunations, or about 19 → tropical years (235 = 19 x 12 + 7), after which → lunar phases recur on the same days of the year.

See also: Named after Meton of Athens, a Gk. mathematician, astronomer, geometer, and engineer who used it in 432 B.C., but it was known to the Babylonians by around 500 B.C. and to the Chinese around 600 B.C.; → cycle.