An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Any of several → lunar calendars used by Romans before the advent of the → Julian calendar in 46 B.C. The original Roman calendar, which had 10 months and 304 days, went back to the Greek calendar, although Romulas, the ruler of Rome, is given credit for starting the Roman calendar. Originally, the Roman calendar started the year in March with the → vernal equinox. The Roman calendar went through several changes from 800 B.C. to the Julian calendar. The 800 B.C. calendar had 10 months and a winter period, with a year of
304 days. In this calendar, the first month, March, was followed by Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, December, and Winter. The months starting with and following Quintilis all used the Latin numbers for names. Finally, for political reasons, the Romans made a change around 150 B.C. when they started using January as the beginning of their calendar year. Around 700 B.C. the 304 day calendar was expanded to 355 days by adding the months of February and January to the end of the year. Later in 450 B.C., January was moved in front of February. Finally, in 150 B.C. the Romans began to use January as the beginning of the calendar year. This calendar was replaced by the Julian calendar in 46 B.C.

See also: From L. Romanus “of Rome, Roman,” from Roma “Rome,” of uncertain origin.