The season that starts when the Sun, during its apparent yearly
motion, attains the celestial longitude 90 degrees in the Northern
Hemisphere and 270 degrees in the Southern Hemisphere. The current
length of the summer season, around the epoch 2000, is 93.65 days.
Etymology (EN): M.E. sumer, from O.E. sumor (cf. O.S., O.N., O.H.G. sumar,
O.Fris. sumur, M.Du. somer, Du. zomer, Ger. Sommer),
from PIE base *sem- “summer;”
cf. Av. ham- “summer;” Mid.Pers. hāin “summer;”
Skt. sámā- “half-year, season;” Arm. am “year,”
amarn “summer;” O.Ir. sam “summer;” O.Welsh ham “summer.”
Etymology (PE): From Mid.Pers. tâpistân, ultimately from Proto-Iranain *tap-stā-
“hot, heat season, time, place.” The first component
*tap- “to shine, radiate;” cf. Mod.Pers.
tâbidan, variants tâftban “to shine,” tafsidan
“to become hot;” Mid.Pers. tâftan
“to heat, burn, shine;” taftan “to become hot;” Parthian t’b “to shine;”
Av. tāp-, taf- “to warm up, heat,” tafsat “became hot,”
tāpaiieiti “to create warmth;”
cf. Skt. tap- “to heat, be/become hot; to spoil, injure, damage; to suffer,”
tapati “burns;” L. tepere “to be warm,” tepidus “warm;”
PIE base *tep- “to be warm.”
The second component *stā- “to stand; to set;
to place;” a suffix of “place, land, country” and in rare cases “time;” examples:
لرستان "Lorestân;"
کردستان "Kurdestân;"
افغانستان“Afghanistan;” ترکستان “Turkistan;” پاکستان “Pakistan;”
انگلستان "England;"
لهستان "Poland;"
کوهستان "kuhestân = mountaneous
region, highland;"
تابستان "summer;"
زمستان "winter."
From Mid.Pers. -stân, -istân. Examples: gôstân (گاوستان) “cowshed;”
šapistân (شبستان) “dormitory;” tâpistân “summer;”
zamistân “winter.”
From O.Pers. stāna- “place;”
Av. stāna-, as in gaostāna-
(Mid.Pers. gôstân, as above) “cowshed;”
from Proto-Iranian *stāna-.
This suffix is related to O.Pers./Av. base sta- “to stand;”
Mod.Pers. istâdan (ایستادن) “to stand;”
cf. Skt. sthā- “to stand,” sthāna- “standing;”
Gk. histemi “to put, place,” stasis “standing still;”
L. stare “to stand;”
Goth. standan; O.H.G. stantan; O.E. standan;
E. stand; PIE base *sta- “to stand.”
