Thirty Days Hath September

Last updated

"Thirty Days Hath September", or "Thirty Days Has September", [1] is a traditional verse mnemonic used to remember the number of days in the months of the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It arose as an oral tradition and exists in many variants. It is currently earliest attested in English, but was and remains common throughout Europe as well. Full:

Contents

Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Save February at twenty-eight,
But leap year, coming once in four,
February then has one day more.

An alternative version goes:

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Except February, twenty-eight days clear,
And twenty-nine in each leap year.

History

The irregularity of the lengths of the months descends from the Roman calendar, which came to be adopted throughout Europe and then worldwide. The months of Rome's original lunar calendar would have varied between 29 and 30 days, depending on observations of the phases of the moon. [2] Reforms credited to Romulus and Numa established a set year of twelve fixed months. Possibly under the influence of the Pythagoreans in southern Italy, Rome considered odd numbers more lucky and set the lengths of the new months to 29 and 31 days, apart from the last month February and the intercalary month Mercedonius. [2] Its imperfect system and political manipulation of intercalation caused it to slip greatly out of alignment with the solar year, [3] which was known to consist of ¼ of 1461 days (rather than 1460 days) by the time of Meton in the 5th century BC. Rather than adopt a new system like the Egyptian calendar, which had 12 months of 30 days each and a set, annual intercalary month of 5 days, Caesar aimed for his 46 BC reform to maintain as much continuity as possible with the old calendar. [4] Ultimately, Mercedonius was removed, the four existing 31-day months were maintained, February was left unchanged apart from leap years, and the needed additional ten days of the year were added to the 29-day months to make them either 30 or 31 days long. [5]

By the Renaissance, the irregularity of the resulting system had inspired Latin verses to remember the order of long and short months. The first known published form [6] appeared in a 1488 edition of the Latin verses of Anianus: [7]

In 2011, the Welsh author Roger Bryan discovered an older English form of the poem [8] written at the bottom of a page of saints' days for February within a Latin manuscript in the British Library's Harleian manuscripts. He dated the entry to 1425 ±20 years. [9] [10] [11]

The first published English version [6] [12] appeared in Richard Grafton's Abridgment of the Chronicles of England in 1562 [13] as "A Rule to Know How Many Dayes Euery Moneth in the Yere Hath": [14]

"September" and "November" have identical rhythm and rhyme and are thus poetically interchangeable. [1] The early versions tended to favour November and as late as 1891 it was being given as the more common form of the rhyme in some parts of the United States. [15] It is less common now and September variants have a long history as well. A manuscript copy of the verse from c. 1555 [16] runs:

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone,
And that has twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year. [17]

An alternate version of this verse, published in 1827, runs:

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone.
To which we twenty-eight assign,
Till leap year gives it twenty-nine. [18]

Another version, published in 1844, runs:

Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting Feb-ru-a-ry alone,
Which has twenty-eight, nay, more,
Has twenty-nine one year in four. [19]

Another English version from before 1574 is found in a manuscript among the Mostyn Papers held at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. [10] [8]

Variants appear throughout Europe. The typical Italian form is: [20]

Legacy

The various forms of the poem are usually considered a doggerel nursery rhyme. [14] In the c. 1601 academic drama Return from Parnassus , Sir Raderic's overenthusiastic appreciation of its poetry [21] is of a piece with his own low level of culture and education. [22]

It has, however, also earned praise. It's been called "one of the most popular and oft-repeated verses in the English language" [10] and "probably the only sixteenth-century poem most ordinary citizens know by heart". [14] Groucho Marx claimed "My favorite poem is the one that starts 'Thirty Days Hath September...', because it actually means something." [10] On the other hand, the unhelpfulness of such an involved mnemonic has been mocked, as in the early-20th-century parody "Thirty days hath September / But all the rest I can't remember." [23] It continues to be taught in schools as children learn the calendar, [1] although others employ the knuckle mnemonic instead.

"Thirty Days Hath September" is also occasionally parodied or referenced in wider culture, such as the 1960 Burma-Shave jingle "Thirty days / Hath September / April / June and the / Speed offender". [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese calendar</span> Lunisolar calendar from China

The traditional Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar which identifies years, months, and days according to astronomical phenomena. In China, it is defined by the Chinese national standard GB/T 33661–2017, "Calculation and Promulgation of the Chinese Calendar", issued by the Standardization Administration of China on May 12, 2017. Traditional Chinese calendar also known as these five titles: Nongli Calendar, Jiuli Calendar, Laoli Calendar, Zhongli Calendar, Huali Calendar

Intercalation or embolism in timekeeping is the insertion of a leap day, week, or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases. Lunisolar calendars may require intercalations of both days and months.

The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year. The Julian calendar is still used in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts of Oriental Orthodoxy as well as by the Berbers, whereas the Gregorian calendar is used in most parts of the world.

A leap year is a calendar year that contains an additional day added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year or seasonal year. Because astronomical events and seasons do not repeat in a whole number of days, calendars that have a constant number of days in each year will unavoidably drift over time with respect to the event that the year is supposed to track, such as seasons. By inserting ("intercalating") an additional day or month into some years, the drift between a civilization's dating system and the physical properties of the Solar System can be corrected.

A month is a unit of time, used with calendars, that is approximately as long as a natural orbital period of the Moon; the words month and Moon are cognates. The traditional concept arose with the cycle of Moon phases; such lunar months ("lunations") are synodic months and last approximately 29.53 days, making for roughly 12.37 such months in one Earth year. From excavated tally sticks, researchers have deduced that people counted days in relation to the Moon's phases as early as the Paleolithic age. Synodic months, based on the Moon's orbital period with respect to the Earth–Sun line, are still the basis of many calendars today, and are used to divide the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman calendar</span> Calendar used by the Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic

The Roman calendar was the calendar used by the Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic. Although the term is primarily used for Rome's pre-Julian calendars, it is often used inclusively of the Julian calendar established by the reforms of the dictator Julius Caesar and emperor Augustus in the late 1st century BC.

The Season of the Harvest or Low Water was the third and final season of the lunar and civil Egyptian calendars. It fell after the Season of the Emergence and before the spiritually dangerous intercalary month, after which the New Year's festivities began the Season of the Inundation (Ꜣḫt). In the Coptic and Egyptian calendars this season begins at the start of the month of Pashons, continues through the months of Paoni and Epip, before concluding at the end of Mesori.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egyptian calendar</span> Calendar used in ancient Egypt before 22 BC

The ancient Egyptian calendar – a civil calendar – was a solar calendar with a 365-day year. The year consisted of three seasons of 120 days each, plus an intercalary month of five epagomenal days treated as outside of the year proper. Each season was divided into four months of 30 days. These twelve months were initially numbered within each season but came to also be known by the names of their principal festivals. Each month was divided into three 10-day periods known as decans or decades. It has been suggested that during the Nineteenth Dynasty and the Twentieth Dynasty the last two days of each decan were usually treated as a kind of weekend for the royal craftsmen, with royal artisans free from work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Date of Easter</span> Calculation of its date

As a moveable feast, the date of Easter is determined in each year through a calculation known as computus. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon, which is the first full moon on or after 21 March. Determining this date in advance requires a correlation between the lunar months and the solar year, while also accounting for the month, date, and weekday of the Julian or Gregorian calendar. The complexity of the algorithm arises because of the desire to associate the date of Easter with the date of the Jewish feast of Passover which, Christians believe, is when Jesus was crucified.

A leap week calendar is a calendar system with a whole number of weeks in a year, and with every year starting on the same weekday. Most leap week calendars are proposed reforms to the civil calendar, in order to achieve a perennial calendar. Some, however, such as the ISO week date calendar, are simply conveniences for specific purposes.

Various ancient Greek calendars began in most states of ancient Greece between autumn and winter except for the Attic calendar, which began in summer.

Mercedonius, also known as Mercedinus, Interkalaris or Intercalaris, was the intercalary month of the Roman calendar. The resulting leap year was either 377 or 378 days long. It theoretically occurred every two years, but was sometimes avoided or employed by the Roman pontiffs for political reasons regardless of the state of the solar year. Mercedonius was eliminated by Julius Caesar when he introduced the Julian calendar in 45 BC.

The Buddhist calendar is a set of lunisolar calendars primarily used in Tibet, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand as well as in Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam by Chinese populations for religious or official occasions. While the calendars share a common lineage, they also have minor but important variations such as intercalation schedules, month names and numbering, use of cycles, etc. In Thailand, the name Buddhist Era is a year numbering system shared by the traditional Thai lunar calendar and by the Thai solar calendar.

The intercalary month or epagomenal days of the ancient Egyptian, Coptic, and Ethiopian calendars are a period of five days in common years and six days in leap years in addition to those calendars' 12 standard months, sometimes reckoned as their thirteenth month. They originated as a periodic measure to ensure that the heliacal rising of Sirius would occur in the 12th month of the Egyptian lunar calendar but became a regular feature of the civil calendar and its descendants. Coptic and Ethiopian leap days occur in the year preceding Julian and Gregorian leap years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coligny calendar</span> Calendar found in Coligny, Ain, France in 1897

The Coligny calendar is a bronze plaque with an inscribed calendar, made in Roman Gaul in the 2nd century CE. It lays out a five-year cycle of a lunisolar calendar, each year with twelve lunar months. An intercalary month is inserted before each 2.5 years. The lunar phase is tracked with exceptional precision, adjusted when necessary by a variable month, and the calendar uses the 19-year Metonic cycle to keep track of the solar year. It is the most important evidence for the reconstruction of an ancient Celtic calendar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menologium</span> Works organized by days of the month

A menologium, also known by other names, is any collection of information arranged according to the days of a month, usually a set of such collections for all the months of the year. In particular, it is used for ancient Roman farmers' almanacs ; for the untitled Old English poem on the Julian calendar that appears in a manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; for the liturgical books used by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine Rite that list the propers for fixed dates, typically in twelve volumes covering a month each and largely concerned with saints; for hagiographies and liturgical calendars written as part of this tradition; and for equivalents of these works among Roman Catholic religious orders for organized but private commemoration of their notable members.

<i>Maius</i>

Maius or mensis Maius (May) was the third month of the ancient Roman calendar, following Aprilis (April) and preceding Iunius (June). On the oldest Roman calendar that had begun with March, it was the third of ten months in the year. May had 31 days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dreamspell</span> Esoteric calendar and game inspired, in part, by the Maya calendar

The Dreamspell is an esoteric calendar in part inspired by the Maya calendar by New Age spiritualist, Mayanist philosopher, and author José Argüelles and Lloydine Burris Argüelles. The Dreamspell calendar was initiated in 1987 and released as a board game in 1990.

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull Inter gravissimas issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years differently so as to make the average calendar year 365.2425 days long, more closely approximating the 365.2422-day 'tropical' or 'solar' year that is determined by the Earth's revolution around the Sun.

The Mandaean calendar is a 365-day solar calendar used by the Mandaean people. It consists of twelve 30-day months, with five extra days at the end of Šumbulta. The Parwanaya festival takes place during those five days. There is no leap year therefore every four years all Mandaean dates move one day back with respect to the Gregorian calendar.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "How Old is 'Thirty Days Has September...'", Blog, Dictionary.com, 18 January 2012.
  2. 1 2 Mommsen (1894) , Vol. I, Ch. xiv.
  3. ↑ Mommsen (1894) , Vol. V, Ch. xi.
  4. ↑ Rüpke (2011), p.  112.
  5. ↑ Rüpke (2011), p.  113.
  6. 1 2 3 Ballew, Pat (1 September 2015), "On This Day in Math", Pat's Blog .
  7. 1 2 Anianus, Computus Metricus Manualis, Strasbourg. (in Latin)
  8. 1 2 Misstear, Rachael (16 January 2012), "Welsh Author Digs Deep to Find Medieval Origins of Thirty Days Hath Verse", Wales Online, Media Wales.
  9. ↑ Bryan (2011).
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Bryan, Roger (30 October 2011), "The Oldest Rhyme in the Book", The Times, London: Times Newspapers.
  11. ↑ "Memorable Mnemonics", Today, London: BBC Radio 4, 30 November 2011.
  12. ↑ Cryer (2010), "Thirty Days Has September".
  13. 1 2 Grafton (1562).
  14. 1 2 3 4 Holland (1992) , p.  64–5.
  15. ↑ Ganvoort, A.J. (August 1891), "Value of Music in Public Education", The Ohio Educational Monthly and the National Teacher, Vol. XL, No. 8, p.  392 .
  16. ↑ Stevins MS.
  17. ↑ OCDQ (2006), p.  45.
  18. ↑ Comly, John, Spelling Book, Philadelphia: Kimber & Sharpless, 1827, https://books.google.com/books?id=nWwBAAAAYAAJ&q=%22September,+.+April,+June,+and+November,+All+the+rest+have+thirty-one,+Excepting+February%22&pg=PP6
  19. ↑ Fowle, William B., The Child's Arithmetic, Or, The Elements of Calculation, in the Spirit of Pestalozzi's Method, for the Use of Children Between the Ages of Three and Seven Years, Boston: Wm. B. Fowle & N. Capen, 1844, https://books.google.com/books?id=8uT8GxU0FUMC&q=editions:UOM35112103818284
  20. 1 2 3 Onofri, Francesca Romana; et al. (2012), Italian for Dummies, Berlitz, pp.  101–2, ISBN   9781118258767 .
  21. ↑ Anon. (1606) , Act III, sc. i.
  22. ↑ Smeaton (1905) , p. xxvi.
  23. ↑ The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, 20 September 1924, p. 6{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  24. ↑ "Thirty Days", Jingles, Burma-Shave.org, 2005.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.