What is month?

Month

A month is a unit of time, used with calendars, which was first used and invented in Mesopotamia, as a natural period related to the motion of the Moon; month and Moon are cognates. The traditional concept arose with the cycle of moon phases; such months (lunations) are synodic months and last approximately 29.53 days. From excavated tally sticks, researchers have deduced that people counted days in relation to the Moon's phases as early as the Paleolithic age. Synodic months, based on the Moon's orbital period, are still the basis of many calendars today, and are used to divide the year.

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Famous quotes containing the word month:

    One non-revolutionary weekend is infinitely more bloody than a month of permanent revolution.
    Graffiti, School of Oriental Languages, London (1968)

    The first month of his absence
    I was numb and sick
    And where he’d left his promise
    Life did not turn or kick.
    The seed, the seed of love was sick.
    Alun Lewis (1915–1944)

    Let us lie down once more by the breathing side
    Of Ocean, where our live forefathers sleep
    As if the Known Sea still were a month wide—
    Atlantis howls but is no longer steep!
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)