English → Latin
“calends” in Latin
The English word calends itself goes back to Latin calō, through kalendās.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
calends s.
calendae, or kalendae in Inscript. (the first day of the month): till the last of August, usque ad pridie calendas Septembres. Debtors paid interest on the first of the month; hence tristes calendae. The Greeks had no calends in their calculations of time; hence ad calendas Graecas solvere: to pay at latter Lammas, i. e., never. cF., OBSERVE, the name of the month is to be an adjective; hence calendae Januariae, not Januarii.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for calends?
- The usual Latin words for “calends” are kalendae, Iānuārius. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.