littérature & sciences humaines
Terminology for Dates and Times
As an annual division, the month corresponds in Western solar calendars to one-twelfth of the year, with a variable number of days. Originally linked to lunar cycles, it has become a strictly solar division of time, which explains the discrepancy between our calendar and the cycles of the moon.
Historically, the month was defined by the lunar cycle—the interval between two new moons—which averages 29 and a half days. These divisions result in a year of 12 or 13 months. In the Western solar calendar (which is not tied to lunar cycles), the month is defined as one-twelfth of the year, with a variable number of days per month.
In other calendars, one may encounter lunar years of 12 months, resulting in a discrepancy with the solar cycle (Hijri calendar); years of 13 months (a fixed calendar, which is said to have been used in Great Britain during the Roman colonial period); or a variable number of months (Hebrew calendar, traditional Chinese calendar) .
The months of the year are defined by their numbers within the ISO 8601 standard, which standardizes the numeric representation of dates and times.
Resource: The Lunar Year at the Origins of the Pre-Julian Calendar [article] (persee.fr)
Resource : History of Calendars (irem.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr)
Resource : What was this 13-month calendar that won over Americans in the 1930s? (geo.fr)
Resource: Why does the year have 12 months? Baptiste, age 11 (unifr.ch)
Names : Mois de l’année (French)