kalende

Middle English

Alternative forms

• kalande, calende, kalend

Etymology

From Old English calend, a singular form back-formed from Latin kalendae, calendae.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kalˈɛnd/, /ˈkalɛnd/

Noun

kalende (plural kalendes)

1. Calends, the first day of a month, particularly a Roman month.
   • 1398, John Trevisa translating Bartholomew de Glanville's De Proprietatibus Rerum, Ch. ix, Section xxi, p. 359:

     The fyrste daye of a monthe hath the name of Kalendis.

   • 14th century, John Trevisa translating Bartholomaeus Anglicus's De Proprietatibus Rerum, folio 119:

     Þe caniculer dayes biginnyth in þe fiftenþe kalendis of august and endiþ in þe nonis of septembris, and so þey ben euene fifty as it is seide þere.

     The canicular days begin on the fifteenth kalends of August [i.e., July 18th] and end on the nones [i.e., 5th] of September, and so they are even fifty as it is said there.

2. A day calculated by counting the number of days left in a month and adding two, then noting the next month; a calends.
3. Rosh Hodesh; the Jewish celebration of a month beginning.
4. The start or commencement of something; that which begins.
   • c. 1374 Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus & Criseyde, Book II, Prologue:

     Now of hope the kalendis bygynne.

5. A foresign or portent of upcoming events or happenings.
6. (rare) A chart or calendar.

Usage notes

The plural is frequently used in a singular sense, following the Latin.

Descendants

• English: calends

References

• “calende(s (n.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.