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Glite Dictionary
Roman calendar

Roman calendar

1 8.1
A calendar based on the moon used in ancient Rome before the Julian calendar
  • noun
  • /ˈroʊmən ˈkælɪndər/
translation icon : calendario romano

Examples

  • For this final piece of the puzzle, we need only recognize that Ussher was still using the old Julian (Roman) calendar.

    Academic text (1991)

  • The Roman calendar was primarily a lunar system that structured the years into months.

  • In ancient Rome, the Roman calendar began the year in March and included 10 months.

  • The Roman calendar, established by Romulus, had months based on lunar cycles of about 29.5 days.

Surface Forms

Roman calendar singular
Roman calendars plural

Morphology

Roman + calendar

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'Roman' (pertaining to Rome) with 'calendar' (a system for organizing years and months); together they denote the calendar used by Romans. This adjective+noun composition is a regular, cross-linguistic naming pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Roman calendar started as a simple system where people watched the moon to know when a month began and they named months after gods and leaders. Over time it fell out of step with the year and was changed by Julius Caesar, so the phrase refers to the 'old' calendar used in ancient Rome.