origins of english words
1. the english names of the months of the year come from latin. january, march, may, and june were all named after roman gods. january was named after the goal janus. janus was a strange god with two faces that could look in two directions. he could look forward and back at the same time, so he was the god of beginnings and endings. january, the first month of the year, is a time at which one looks forward to the new year and back to the old year.
2. the name february comes from a roman celebration called februa. februa was a celebration of cleaning. toward the end of february, after the long winter months, people begin to think of spring cleaning. this probably was the origin of the name of the month. february has only twenty-eight days except every fourth year, when it has an extra day. this is because in every year there are exactly 365 days and six hours. at the end of four years, these six extra hours of each year add up to twenty-four hours, or one full day. this fourth year, in which february has twenty-nine days, is called leap year.
3. the third month, march, was named after the roman god of war, mars. mars was a strong god, and the roman people always connected him with thunder and lightning. pictures of mars always show him with lightning above his head. it is natural that march should be named after this god since in most of north america, it is a month of strong winds, rain, and storms. there is frequent thunder and lightning in march.
4. the exact origin of the word april is not known. the word probably comes from the latin word aperire, meaning "to open". today, the italian word for "to open" is aprire and the spanish word is abrir. in the month of april, the skies open and give us rain. the rain aids in the opening of life among trees, grass, and flowers.
5. may was named after the young and beautiful goddess of the fields, maia. maia was the mother of the god mercury. another beautiful goddess, juno, the wife of jupiter, give us the name of the month of june. 6. the seventh month of the year, july, was named after julius caesar. caesar was a famous general who became dictator of rome. before the time of caesar, the year began in march instead of in january. caesar made a new calendar, which is the one we use at present. he himself was born in july, the seventh month of the new calendar.
7. after julius caesar, his grandnephew augustus became the ruler of rome. augustus' real name was octavian, but when he became emperor, the people wished to please him. they gave him the title of augustus, meaning "noble", and they named the eighth month, august, after him.
8. the months of september, october, november, and december need little explanation. in our calendar today, they are the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months. but in the old calendar before julius caesar, they were the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth months. their names therefore came from the latin words for seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth.
9. the english names of the days of the week come from latin, norse, old german, and old english. many days were named for gods and goddesses in the old myths. before they became christians, the english people worshipped the old norse gods.
10. in old english, the word sunnandaeg meant "day of the sun". all ancient people worshipped the sun and thought that a day should be named for it. about 1,600 years ago, sunday became a holiday in the christian world. people were not allowed to work on that day.
11. in many old myths, the moon was the wife of the sun. as a result, people thought that she should have a day named for her, too. the old english word for "day of the moon" was monandaeg. one of the beliefs of the people of those times was that they should not kill animals which they were going to eat on mondays. they thought it would bring them bad luck. they were also afraid to take medicine on the moon day. they thought the medicine wouldn't work, but instead would make them crazy. the roman goddess of the moon was luna. two english words meaning "crazy" are lunatic and loony.
12. in norse mythology, there was a god named tyr. the word changed to tiw in old english. this god was a lot like the roman god of war, mars. the people wanted him to have his own day, so they called the third day of the week tiwesdaeg, or "day of tiw". today, it's called tuesday. the spanish, italian, and french words for tuesday come from the name mars.
13. wednesday has an unusual pronunciation. when people hear the word for the first time, they think it should be spelled "wensday". the old german god woden gave his name to this day. woden, who was the father of tyr, was the god of storms. he was a lot like the roman god mercury-he could run swiftly and speak beautifully. the old english word was wodnesdaeg or "day of woden". the spelling has changed only slightly over the years.
14. thursday was named for the strongest and bravest of the norse gods, thor. thor was a lot like the roman god jupiter. like tyr, thor was a son of woden, and he was the god of thunder and lightning. the people feared him, so they named the fifth day after him.
15. friday was named for frigg, the wife of woden and the mother of tyr and thor. the norse goddess was a lot like the roman goddess venus. in old english, frigedaeg, the "day of frigg", was a lucky day because people thought that all the gods were happy on friday.
16. the word saturday comes from the latin words for "day of saturn". it was named to honor the roman god of sowing and all agriculture. sowing, or planting seeds, is important to people all over the world. around 600 years ago, people began to think that the planet saturn was heavy and slow, just like the metal lead. they began to think that lead came from saturn.
17. the word panic is not a month of the year or a day of the w~ek, but it also comes from an old god. pan was the greek god of shepherds, the people who watch and keep sheep. pan was a half-man, half-animal who live in the forest. he loved to hunt and to play music on his special flute. when he went through the woods playing this unusual flute, he frightened people. he was very strange-looking. whenever travelers met him, they were frightened and didn't know what to do. they were in a "panic".
18. the word panic, thus, means "frightened and confused".a person in a panic doesn't know what to do and often acts foolishly. interestingly, panic appears in many other languages besides english.
参考译文：英语字的来源
1．在英语里，一年中每个月份的名字来源于拉丁语。january(一月)、 march(三月)、may(五月)和june(六月)都是用罗马神的名字来命 名的。january(一月)得名于神宙斯。宙斯是个奇特的神，他有两张脸能 看两个方向。他能同时看到前面和后面，所以，他是开始和结束的神。 january(一月)，一年的第一个月，是向前展望新年的时刻，也是向后回 顾旧年的时刻。
2．february(二月)的名字来源于一个罗马庆典日子(februa)。该 日庆祝清洁。接近二月底，在漫长的冬季月份之后，人们开始考虑春天的清 洁。这大概是february(二月)这个名字的起源吧。除了每四年一次的额 外多的一天，二月仅仅有二十八天。这是因为每——年实际上有365天6小时。 在四年的年底，把每年额外的6小时累加，恰好是24小时，或者说是完整的 ，一天。这个二月有29天的第四年被称为闰年。
3．march(三月)，一年中的第三个月，得名于罗马战神玛斯(mars)， 玛斯是一位强壮的神，罗马人把它与雷鸣电闪联系在一起。玛斯的像头部总 是被画上闪电。三月以这个神命名是很自然的，因为北美洲的许多地方，三 月是强风、大雨和暴风雪的季节。在三月，经常有雷鸣和闪电发生。
4．april(四月)这个词的确切来源并不为人所知．o这个词也许来源于拉 丁语的aperire，意思是“打开”。今天意大利语中的“打开”‘是aprire， 西班牙语则是abrir。在april(四月)，天空似乎打开并赐给我们雨水， 雨水给树木、草、花朵等带来生机。
5．may(五月)得名于年轻美丽的原野女神玛雅(maia)。玛雅是神麦 克瑞(mercury)的母亲。另外一个美丽的女神朱诺(juno)是丘比特的 妻子，她给了我们june(六月)的名字。
6．一年中的第七个月，july(七月)，得名于以朱利斯·凯撒(julius caesar)。凯撒是一个著名的将军，后来成为罗马帝国的独裁者。在凯撒帝 国之前，每年开始于三月而不是一月。凯撒创造了一部新历法，也就是我们 现在使用的这部历法。凯撒自己也出生于july(七月)，既新历法的第七个 月。
7．在凯撒之后，他的外孙奥古斯塔斯(augustus)成为罗马的统治者。 奥古斯塔斯的真名叫屋大维。但是当他成为君主后，人们为取悦他，给了他 奥古斯塔斯的头衔，意思是“贵族”。在他之后，人们称一年的第八个月为 august(八月)。
8．september(九月)、october(十月)、november(十一月) 和december(十二月)需要一些小小的解释。它们在我们今天的日历里是 一年的第九，第十，第十一和第十二个个月，但是在凯撒以前的古历法中， 它们是一年的第七，第八，第九和第十个月。因此，它们名字源自拉丁文的 第七(september)，第八(october)，第九(november)，和第十 (december)。
9．一个星期中每一天的英文名字来源于拉丁语、挪威语、古德语、和古 英语。大多数天以古代神话中神和女神的名字命名。在英国人成为基督徒之 前，他们崇拜古挪威的神。
10．在古英国，sunnandaeg这个词意味着“太阳之日”。所有远古的 人们都崇拜太阳，并且认为应该有一天以它命名。大约1600年前，sunday (星期日)在基督教世界里成了一个假日。人们在礼拜日不允许工作。
11．许多古代神话里，说月亮是太阳的妻子。结果，人们认为也应该有一 天以她的名字命名。古英语词汇中“月亮之日”的词源就是monandae。 那个时期人们信仰的之一，是他们不应该在星期一这天杀他们将要吃的动物。 他们认为这将给他们带来厄运。他们还害怕“月亮之日”吃药。他们认为这 天药不起作用，非但如此，药还会使他们发疯。罗马的月亮女神名字叫卢纳 (luna)。还有两个英语单词词意有疯狂的意思：lunatic(疯子)、loony (疯狂)。
12．在挪威神话里，有一个神名叫蒂尔(try)。在古英语中这个词应写 为tiw。这个神与罗马的战神玛斯，有许多相似。人们希望他有自己的一天， 所以他们称每个星期的第三天为tiwesdaeg，或者“tiw”。今天，它被称 为tuesday(星期二)。在西班牙语、意大利语、和法语里，星期二的词源 自mars(玛尔斯)。
13．wednesday(星期三)有一个非正常的拼读。人们第一次听到这个 词，他们认为它一定拼写为“wensday”。古德国的神woden(沃登)的 名字被给了这一天。沃登是蒂尔(try)的父亲，是暴风雨之神。他很像罗 马神话里的麦克瑞(mercury)：他能飞似的跑，能讲一口漂亮的话。 wednesday(星期三)这个词的拼法在古英语里是wodnesdaeg，或者 dayofwoden。数百年来它的拼读只有微小的改动。
14．thursday(星期四)以最强壮和勇敢的挪威神thor(托尔)命名。 托尔很像罗马神朱庇特。如同蒂尔，托尔是沃登(woden)的／乙子，它是司 雷鸣和电闪之神。人们恐惧它，所以把它命名于星期五之前。
15．friday(星期五)被命名给弗丽佳(frigg)，弗丽佳是沃登(woden) —256— 的妻子，是蒂尔(try)和托尔(thor)的母亲。这个挪威女神很像罗马女 神维纳斯(venus)。在古英国，friday(星期五)，或称frigedaeg(弗 丽佳)日，是一个幸运日，因为人们认为所有的神在星期五都是快乐的。
16．saturday(星期六)这个词来源于拉丁语“saturn(土星)之日”。 它被奖励给司播种和农业的罗马神。播种，或者撒种，对全世界人们来说都 是重要的。大约600年前，人门认为土星是沉重的和缓慢的，就像金属铅。 人们开始认为铅来源于土星。
17．panic这个词不是一年中的某月或一周中的某天，但是它来源于古神 的名字。潘(pan)是希腊牧羊人的神。潘(pan)是个半人半兽的神，住 在森林里。它喜欢打猎和用它的特殊的长笛演奏音乐。当它演奏着特殊的长 笛穿过丛林时，它使人受惊。它有非常奇特的外表。每当旅行者遇到它，他 们会非常害怕，不知道该做什么。他们陷入“panic(慌乱)”。
18．panic(慌乱)这个词，故此含有“害怕和混乱”的意思。一个人陷 入慌乱不知道该做什么，通常反映为愚蠢。有趣地是，panic(慌乱)这个词不仅出现在英语里，还出现在很多其他语言里。