I did Latin many years ago but I’m not good at it as Frank is, nevertheless I look into different languages entry in Wikipedia for the Bissextile Year, as he proposed and it has been very interesting:
In Spanish AÑO BISIESTO it gives the 24th of february as the day we should count an extra day. In Catalan ANY DE TRASPÀS speaks about the year rather than the date: bis-sextus pridie Martias Kalendas, and it proposes a new aproach: the word “bixest” because the year ens up with two six. In French ANNÉE BISSEXTILE (ou bi-exacte) it speaks about bis-sextilis meaning two times and sextus meaning the sixth. No more Latin Spanish entry in Wikipedia ...El adjetivo deriva del latín bisextus correspondía al 24 de febrero. (dos veces sexto), porque se contaba dos veces el sexto día anterior a las calendas: primer día de los meses romanos, que se dividían en tres partes: calendas, nonas e idus.1 Como para contar se incluían la cifras (en este caso el día) de referencia (el 1 de marzo), En italiano, bisesto es el día adicional, y bisestil (del latín bisextilis) se refiere al año en el cual se agrega este día.2 Catalan entry in Wikipedia ...Un any de traspàs, any bisest o any bissextil, és un any civil que té un dia més que els anys comuns, és a dir, té 366 dies. El dia de més s'afegeix al final del mes que era el darrer en el calendari romà: el febrer, de tal manera que aquest mes passa a tenir 29 dies. Aquest dia s'anomenà Bisextus calendas martii, ja que s'afegí darrera del sextus calendas martii, d'aqui el seu nom. L'any de traspàs també s'anomena bixest o bissextil, mots que fan referència al dia bis-sextus pridie Martias Kalendas, és a dir, al dia que s'intercalava entre el "sextus" i el "quintus" de les calendes de març, finals de febrer, en la proposta juliana inicial. També existeix una etimologia popular que fa derivar el nom de "bixest" del fet que el nombre de dies que té (366) acaba en dos sisos. ( my translation: "bixest" because the number of days of that year finishes with two 6 ) French entry in Wikipedia ...Une année bissextile (ou bi-exacte) est une année comptant 366 jours au lieu de 365, c'est-à-dire une année comprenant un 29 février(telle que l'année 2012). Le terme vient du latin bis-sextilis, qui signifie « deux fois (bis) sixième (sextus) ». L'objectif est d'aligner au mieux les indications du calendrier avec la durée de l'année tropique, qui ramène les saisons... Enjoy the day Roser Raluy 2012/2/24 Frank King <frank.k...@cl.cam.ac.uk>: > Dear All, > > A Happy Leap Year Day to everyone... > > Those who think that I am a few days early > should read my little article in the December > issue of the BSS Bulletin. > > The explanation lies in the almost obsolete > English term "bissextile year". > > Few people with English as their mother tongue > use this term these days but it is alive and > well in Italian. Key "bisestile" into Google > Translate and ask for an Italian to English > translation; you will get the answer "leap". > Amazing, albeit misleading! > > The Romans dealt with leap years by doubling > the length of the sixth day before the first > of March and this was referred to as: > > ante diem bis sextum Kalendas Martii > > before day twice sixth first of March > > It took a while before the fiction of a single > 48-hour day was accepted as two ordinary days > and, importantly, it was the first of these > two days which was deemed the intercalary day. > > As far as I know, only Finland and Sweden > have enacted legislation to change what the > Romans bequeathed to us so, unless you are > reading this in Finland or Sweden... > > Today is the intercalary day. Enjoy it! > > The next time I design a date-showing sundial > I shall probably show the extra day for leap > years between 23 and 24 February rather than > between 28 February and 1 March. > > It is interesting to compare the English, > German and Italian Wikipedia entries for > bissextile years: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bissextile > http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schaltjahr > http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisestile > > The English gives the Latin as: > > ante diem bis sextum Kalendas Martii > > This is correct post-Classical Latin. > > The German gives the Latin as: > > ante diem bis sextum kalendas martias > > This is incorrect: martias is here accusative > when it should be genitive "of March". > > The Italian gives the Latin as: > > bis sexto die ante Kalendas Martias > > This is most interesting. The Martias is > again incorrect but the "sexto die" is > correct PRE-Classical Latin using the > ablative for point of time. > > For reasons of euphony, the word order has > been changed to put "ante" after sexto die; > an ablative after ante, while correct, > didn't sound right! > > MORAL: when using Wikipedia be very careful; > read an entry in at least three languages > before making up your mind! > > Frank King > Cambridge, U.K. > > --------------------------------------------------- > https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial > --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
