And next the Crab the Lion shines,
The Virgin and the Scales:
The Scorpion, Archer, and Sea-goat,
The Man that holds the Water-pot,
And Fish with glittering tails.”
Dr. Long observes, that ♈ represents the horns of the ram; ♉ the head and horns of the bull; ♊ the figure of gemini, the twins joining hands and feet; the character cancer ♋ represents the changes of the sun’s declination from north to south, by two lines or figures drawn so as to point two contrary ways; ♌ is the tail of the lion; ♍ was originally the three ears of corn which Virgo held; ♎ is the beam of the balance; ♏ was at first the picture of the scorpion; ♐ the arrow of the Archer; ♑ represents capricorn, the goat-fish; ♒ is a natural representation of the water’s undulating surface; ♓ is the picture of two fishes tied together back to back.
The figures of the twelve signs are supposed by Dr. Jennings, and other astronomers, to be Egyptian hieroglyphics, by which they designed to exhibit some remarkable natural occurrence in each month, as the sun passed through these signs. Thus the first three months, beginning from the vernal equinox, were remarkable for the production of those animals which they most valued, namely, sheep, kine, and goats. The lambs came first, which are represented by their parent, the Ram; next the calves, represented by the Bull; and the kids, which commonly come in pairs, and which, therefore, gave the name to Gemini, the third constellation; which was not at first represented by Two Boys, but by Two Beasts; as referring to the fruitfulness of goats, in producing twin kids about the time when the sun was in that constellation. When, in the fourth month, the sun is arrived at the summer solstice, he discontinues his progress towards the north pole, and begins to go back again to the southward; this retrograde motion the Egyptians expressed by the Crab, which is said to go backwards. The excessive heat that usually follows in the next month, is signified by the Lion; an animal remarkable for his strength and fierceness; or, as others observe, when that animal, driven by thirst from the desert, made his appearance on the banks of the Nile. Nothing could be more proper than the symbol for the harvest: namely, the Virgin reaper or gleaner with an ear of corn in her hand. The seventh constellation, when the sun arrives at the autumnal equinox, is expressed by the Balance or Scales, in equilibrio, because the days and nights, being then of the same length, seemed to indicate an equilibrium like that instrument. October is often a sickly season, when the surfeits acquired in the hot months of the summer produce their fatal effects; the symbol is therefore the Scorpion, who wounds with a sting in his tail, as he recedes; or, according to others, when certain regular winds brought forth a burning vapor like the poison of the scorpion. The diversion of hunting, which is chiefly followed after the fall of the leaf, is designated by Sagittarius, or the archer. The Goat, which is an animal that delights to browse up hill and to climb the highest rocks, is the emblem of the winter solstice, when the sun begins to ascend from the southern tropic, and is continually mounting higher and higher for the ensuing half year. Aquarius, or the Water-bearer, fitly represents the rains, or snows, of the winter. And the Two Fishes in a band, had, it is imagined, reference to the prime fishing season, which began in February.
The names given to our months originated as follows:
The name given to the month of January by the Romans was taken from Janus, one of their divinities, to whom they gave two faces; because on the one side, the first day of this month looked towards the new year, and on the other towards the old one. It was called wolf-monat by our Saxon ancestors, on account of the danger they then experienced from wolves. Some etymologists derive February from Februa, an epithet given to Juno, as the goddess of purification; while others attribute the origin of the name to Februa, a feast held by the Romans in this month, in behalf of the manes of the deceased. The Saxons named February sprout kele, on account of the sprouts of the cole-wort which began to appear in this month. Among the Romans, March, from Mars, was the first month, and marriages made in this month were accounted unhappy. The Saxons called March lent-monat, or length-moneth, “because the days did first begin, in length, to exceed the nights.”—April is derived from Aprilis, of aperio, I open; because the earth, in this month, begins to open her bosom for the production of vegetables. The Saxons called this month oster-monat, from the goddess Eoster, or because the winds were found to blow generally from the east in this month.—May is so called from Maia, the mother of Mercury, to whom sacrifices were offered by the Romans on the first of this month; or, according to some, from respect to the senators and nobles of Rome, who were named Majores, as the following month was termed Junius, in honor of the youth of Rome. The Saxons called May, tri-milki, because, in that month, they began to milk their kine three times in the day.—The Saxons called June weyd-monat, because their beasts did then weyd or feed in the meadows.—The word July is derived from the Latin Julius, the surname of C. Cæsar, the dictator, who was born in it. Mark Antony first gave to this month the name of July, which was before called Quintilis, as being the fifth month in the year, in the old Roman calender established by Romulus. July was called by the Saxons, hew-monat, or hey-monat, because therein they usually mowed, and made their hay-harvest.—Sextilis was the ancient Roman name for September, it being the sixth month from March. The Emperor Augustus changed this name, and gave it his own, because in this month Cæsar Augustus took possession of his first consulship, celebrated three triumphs, reduced Egypt under the power of the Roman people, and put an end to all civil wars. “The Saxons called August arn-monat (more rightly barn-monat,) intending thereby the then filling of their barnes with corne.” September is composed of septem, seven, and the termination ber, like lis in Aprilis, Quintilis, Sextilis. This rule will also apply to the three following months, Octo-ber. Novem-ber, Decem-ber. Our Saxon ancestors called it Gerst-monat, “for that barley which that moneth commonly yielded was anciently called gerst.”—October was called Domitianus in the time of Domitian: but, after his death, by the decree of the senate, it took the name of October, every one hating the name and memory of so detestable a tyrant. It was called wyn-monat, or wine month, by the Saxons—The Saxons called November wint-monat, or wind-month, on account of the prevalence of high winds in this month.—December was called winter-monat by the Saxons; but, after they were converted to Christianity, it received the name of heligh-monat, or holy month.[129]
The names of our days are of Heathen origin. The seven planets were anciently looked on as presiding over the affairs of the world, and to take it by turns each one hour at a time, according to the following order: Saturn first, then Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and last of all, the Moon. Hence they denominated each day of the week from the planet whose turn it was to preside the first hour of the nychthemeron, a term compounded of νυξ, night, and ἡμερα, day, which implies both night and day, and is divided into twenty-four parts, called hours. Thus, assigning the first hour of Saturday to Saturn, the second will fall to Jupiter, the third to Mars, and so the twenty-second of the same nychthemeron will fall to Saturn again, and therefore the twenty-third to Jupiter, and the last to Mars: so that on the first hour of the next day, it will fall to the Sun to preside; and by the like manner of reckoning, the first hour of the next will fall to the Moon, of the next to Mars, of the next to Mercury, of the next to Jupiter, and the next to Venus: hence the days of the week came to be distinguished by the Latin names of Dies Saturni, Solis, Lunæ, Martis, Mercurii, Jovis, and Veneris. The ancient Saxons had a great many idols, seven of which were appropriated to the seven days of the week, because of some worship that was offered to each idol on its respective day. The northern nations substituted, for the Roman Divinities, such of their own as most nearly resembled them in their peculiar attributes, and hence the derivation of the names now in use. These were Seater, the Sun, the Moon, Tuisco, Woden, Thor, Friga: hence among us the names of Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. For, as Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, plainly denote the day of Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon; so Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, denote the day of Tuisco, Woden, Thor, and Friga, which are the Saxon names respectively answering to Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus. Verstegan, in his “Restitution of Decayed Intelligence,” describes the Saxon deities who presided over each day of the week, and gives plates of the idols, pp. 74-85.