Thecalends orkalends (Latin:kalendae) is the first day of every month in theRoman calendar. TheEnglish word "calendar" is derived from this word.
TheRomans called the first day of every month thecalends, signifying the start of a newlunar phase. On this day, thepontiffs would announce the number of days until the next month at theCuria Calabra; in addition, debtors had to pay off their debts on this day. These debts were inscribed in thekalendaria, effectively an accounting book.
Modern calendars count the number of daysafter the first of each month; by contrast, the Roman calendar counted the number of daysuntil certain upcoming dates (such as the calends, thenones or theides). The day before the calends was calledpridie kalendas, but the day before that was counted as the "third day", as Romans usedinclusive counting.
To calculate the day of the calends of the upcoming month, counting the number of days remaining in the current month is necessary, then adding two to that number. For example, April 22 is the 10th day before the calends of May (ante diem decimum Kalendas Maius), because eight days are left in April and both end dates are included in the total.[1]
The following lines of poetry aid calculations relating to the day of the month from the calends:
Principium mensis cujusque vocato kalendas:
Sex Maius nonas, October, Julius, et Mars;
Quattuor at reliqui: dabit idus quidlibet octo.
This means that the first day is called thecalends; six days after the calends is thenones of May, October, July and March, while the nones comes only four days later for the other months; theides comes eight days after the nones.[2]
The calends was a feature of theRoman calendar, but it was not included in theGreek calendar. Consequently, to postpone somethingad Kalendas Graecas ("until theGreek calends") was a colloquial expression for postponing something forever. This phrase survived for many centuries in Greek (Ancient Greek:εἰς τὰς ἑλληνικὰς καλένδας) and in theRomance languages (Spanish:hasta las calendas griegas;Italian:alle calende greche;French:aux calendes grecques;Romanian:la calendele grecești;Portuguese:às calendas gregas ; etc.).
The Latin term is traditionally written with initialK: this is a relic of traditional Latin orthography, which wroteK (instead ofC orQ) before the vowelA. Later, most Latin words adoptedC, instead. It is sometimes claimed that the kalends was frequently used in formal or high-register contexts, and that that is why it retained its traditional spelling, but there seems to be no source for this.
the three following latin verses.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Calends".Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.