Etymology

January

Jan·u·ary
J8A1N1U1A1R1Y4

Today it means: The first month of the Gregorian calendar, following the December of the previous year and preceding February. Full definition →

Middle English Januarie ← Anglo-Norman genever ← Latin Iānuārius
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*yeh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*yeh₂-no-
  3. Proto-Italic*jānos
  4. Latiniānus
  5. LatinIānus
  6. LatinIānuārius
  7. Anglo-Normangenever
  8. Middle EnglishJanevere
  9. Middle EnglishJanuarie
  10. English todayJanuary

From Middle English Januarie, januari, re-latinised forms of Middle English Janevere, Ieneuer, from Anglo-Norman genever, from Latin Iānuārius (“(month) of Janus”), a compound of Iānus ("Janus") + -ārius (adjectival suffix), with the first element perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root *yeh₂- (“to go”). Doublet of Gennaro.

Words from the same roots

LatinIānuārius all →

Gennaro

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.