Where did the name January come from?
What does January mean?
January, as we know, is the first month of the year and contains 31 days.
The term originated before the year 1000 from Middle English, ultimately deriving from the Latin noun use of Jānuārius, equivalent to Jānu(s) or Jānus.
Who was Janus?
In ancient Roman culture, Jānus was a god of doorways, beginnings, and the rising and setting of the sun.
His name comes from the Latin jānus, meaning “doorway, archway, arcade.”
Here’s an interesting fact: the closely related Latin word jānua, meaning “door, doorway, entrance,” ultimately gives us the word janitor, which originally referred to a door attendant or porter before evolving to its more familiar idea of “custodian.”
