BY Kathy Hughes
As fall begins, as with every season, we are set to wonder whether or not it is going to be a “good” one, a reference understood to be about the weather. In our latitude, a good fall has warm or cool days, that is, temperate; also, fall has to do with leaves, turning color and falling from trees that shed their leaves at this time of year, that is, deciduous. It sounds so simple, but a little research proves the definition is much more complicated than one would think.
For English speakers, the third season of the year is the only one with two alternative names. As can be assumed, the word “fall” is in its origin an English word, while “autumn” is borrowed from French and Latin. Before either word was used, “harvest time” probably stood for this season, until after 1066 when, with the Norman French conquest, autumn became the dominant word. The French used autumn as derived from Latin, and the English had autumns for centuries after.
Five hundred years later, just as the English were colonizing North America, the English replaced autumn with fall. Not long after, when America expelled the British, they left “fall” behind. After the British returned to their homeland, autumn once again became the preferred word, while Americans continued to use “fall” — and so it stands today.
Our seasons are determined by the earth’s changing exposure as its hemispheres tilt towards and away from the sun. The division into four seasons is convenient and it works well, but two seasons or eight would be possible as well. “Midwinter” and “Midsummer” are based on a calculus of two seasons and are still in use; they are determined by the longest day of the year — the summer solstice — and the shortest day — the winter solstice. “Solstice” means sun standing still, because it appears that the sun stops at this level in the sky before its daylight begins to change again.
“Equinox,” means equal nights, that is the point between the two solstices when night and day are of equal length. The autumnal equinox occurs during the third week in September (the date changes because our calendar months are unequal in length), so that is now passed, and we are descending towards the winter equinox, which will be Friday, December 21. Though the worst of winter weather will be yet to come, our daylight hours will increase until night and day again become equal in March, and on again until the longest day next June.
As our nights grow longer, we can rest assured that daylight will return, little by little, for the next six months. That is a promise.
