Word of the Day: Autumn

Happy first day of Fall! The word of the day is

- Autumn -

pronounced [aw-tuhm]

noun

1. the season between summer and winter; fall. In the Northern Hemisphere it is from the September equinox to the December solstice; in the Southern Hemisphere it is from the March equinox to the June solstice.

2. a time of full maturity, especially the late stages of full maturity or, sometimes, the early stages of decline: to be in the autumn of one's life.

Origin

late 14c., from O.Fr. autumpne, from L. autumnus (also auctumnus, perhaps infl. by auctus "increase"), a word probably of Etruscan origin. But Tucker suggests a meaning "drying-up season" and a root in *auq- (which would suggest the form in -c- was the original) and compares archaic Eng. sere-month "August."

Harvest was the Eng. name for the season until autumn began to displace it 16c. In Britain, the season is popularly August through October; in U.S., September through November. Cf. It. autunno, Sp. otoño, Port. outono, all from the Latin word. Unlike the other three seasons, its names across the IE languages leave no evidence that there ever was a common word for it. Many "autumn words mean "end, end of summer," or "harvest." Cf. also Lith. ruduo "autumn," from rudas "reddish," in ref. to leaves; O.Ir. fogamar, lit. "under-winter."

Related Words
fall

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/autumn

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