Roman King Numa Pompilius

Around 700 BC, Roman King Numa Pompilius added two more months -- Januarius (January) and Februarius (February) -- and moved the beginning of the year from March to January. Thus our tenth month goes by the name of the eighth. Our ninth uses the name of the seventh. Our eleventh uses the name of the ninth. And our twelfth uses the name of the tenth. Go figure.
For an interesting discussion of the history of the months and the meaning of their names, click on http://www.crowl.org/Lawrence/time/months.html
Words come from everywhere. Three days of the week are named after heavenly bodies: Saturn (Saturday), the Sun (Sunday) and the Moon (Monday) -- so these names come from Greek or Roman mythology. But the names for the other days don’t. Tuesday and Wednesday were named for Tiw and Woden, important figures in Anglo-Saxon myths. And Thursday and Friday were named for Thor and Freya, a Norse god and goddess.
We’ll tell you more about Greek, Roman, Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology in later Instructions, but don’t worry – it won’t be dull. Mythological figures led bigger-than-life lives -- with plenty of sex and violence.
There are a number of fascinating web sites where you can look up the history of words. Here are a few examples of what you’d find:


http://www.etap.org/demo/englishhs/instruction1.html