From: utzoo!watmath!rvpalliende
Newsgroups: net.followup
Title: Re: Names of Months
Article-I.D.: watmath.3738
Posted: Fri Oct 29 11:17:46 1982
Received: Fri Oct 29 23:59:37 1982
References: alice.1018 watmath.3730

Neither February nor April are Celtic names.
I understood that February derives from a Roman goddess Februa. The
COD says it's from a Roman purification feast called "februa".
April: The COD only says it derives from Latin "Aprilis".
May: Latin "Maius", of the goddes Maia.
It would be more efficient if people searched information in books first
and in the net only if books failed. Or maybe we should have
an encyclopedia on line.
By the way (and contravening my own advice) does anyone know
why Latin for August was "sextilis" instead ov "sextember"?