View source for Thirty Days Hath September

{{Short description|Traditional mnemonic verse}}
"'''Thirty Days Hath September'''", or "'''Thirty Days Has September'''",<ref name=dick/> is a traditional verse [[mnemonic]] used to remember the number of [[day]]s in the [[month]]s of the [[Julian calendar|Julian]] and [[Gregorian calendar]]s. It arose as an [[oral tradition]] and exists in many variants. It is currently earliest attested in English, but was and remains common throughout Europe as well.
Full:

{{poem quote|Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Save February at twenty-eight,
But leap year, coming once in four,
February then has one day more.}}

An alternative version goes:

{{Poem quote|text=Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Except February, twenty-eight days clear,
And twenty-nine in each leap year.|char=|sign=|title=|source=}}

==History==
{{hatnote|Further information: [[Roman calendar]] and its [[Julian reform|Julian]] and [[Gregorian calendar|Gregorian reforms]]}}
The irregularity of the lengths of the months descends from the [[Roman calendar]], which came to be adopted throughout Europe and then worldwide. The months of Rome's original [[lunar calendar]] would have varied between 29 and 30 days, depending on observations of the [[Lunar phase|phases of the moon]].<ref name=mom14>{{harvp|Mommsen|1894|loc=Vol. I, Ch. xiv}}.</ref> Reforms credited to [[Romulus]] and [[Numa Pompilius|Numa]] established a set year of twelve fixed months. Possibly under the influence of the [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagoreans]] in southern Italy, Rome considered odd numbers more lucky and set the lengths of the new months to 29 and 31 days, apart from the last month [[Februarius|February]] and the [[Intercalation (timekeeping)|intercalary month]] [[Mercedonius]].<ref name=mom14/> Its imperfect system and political manipulation of intercalation caused it to slip greatly out of alignment with the solar year,<ref name=mom11>{{harvp|Mommsen|1894|loc=Vol. V, Ch. xi}}.</ref> which was known to consist of {{1/4}} of 1461 days (rather than 1460 days) by the time of [[Meton of Athens|Meton]] in the 5th{{nbsp}}century{{nbsp}}BC. Rather than adopt a new system like the [[Egyptian calendar]], which had 12 months of 30 days each and a set, annual intercalary month of 5 days, [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] aimed for [[Julian reform|his 46{{nbsp}}BC reform]] to maintain as much continuity as possible with the old calendar.{{sfnp|Rüpke|2011|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pThna2LDwDsC&pg=PA112 112]}} Ultimately, Mercedonius was removed, the four existing 31-day months were maintained, February was left unchanged apart from leap years, and the needed additional ten days of the year were added to the 29-day months to make them either 30 or 31 days long.{{sfnp|Rüpke|2011|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pThna2LDwDsC&pg=PA113 113]}}

By the [[Renaissance]], the irregularity of the resulting system had inspired [[Latin poetry|Latin verses]] to remember the order of long and short months. The first known published form<ref name=lucy>{{citation |last=Ballew |first=Pat |contribution=On This Day in Math |contribution-url=http://pballew.blogspot.com/2015/09/on-this-day-in-math-september-1.html |url=http://pballew.blogspot.com/ |title=Pat's Blog |date=1 September 2015 }}.</ref> appeared in a 1488 edition of the Latin verses of [[Anianus (astronomer)|Anianus]]:<ref name=annie>{{citation |author=Anianus |title=Computus Metricus Manualis |location=Strasbourg }}. {{in lang|la}}</ref>

{{verse translation|lang=la
|Junius Aprilis September et ipse November
Dant triginta dies reliquis supadditur unus
De quorum numero Februarius excipiatur.<ref name=lucy/><ref name=annie/>
|June, April, September, and November itself
Give thirty days, the rest add one more,
From which number February is excepted.}}

In 2011, the Welsh author Roger Bryan discovered an older English form of the poem<ref name=wales>{{citation |last=Misstear |first=Rachael |contribution=Welsh Author Digs Deep to Find Medieval Origins of Thirty Days Hath Verse |contribution-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206080222/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/need-to-read/2012/01/16/welsh-author-digs-deep-to-find-medieval-origins-of-thirty-days-hath-verse-91466-30128447 |date=16 January 2012 |title=Wales Online |publisher=Media Wales }}.</ref> written at the bottom of a page of [[Calendar of saints|saints' days]] for February within a Latin manuscript in the [[British Library]]'s [[Harleian Library|Harleian manuscripts]]. He dated the entry to 1425 ±20 years.{{sfnp|Bryan|2011}}<ref name=tto>{{citation |last=Bryan |first=Roger |date=30 October 2011 |contribution=The Oldest Rhyme in the Book |contribution-url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/article3209766.ece |title=The Times |publisher=Times Newspapers |location=London |url=https://www.thetimes.com/ |ref={{harvid|Bryan|2011b}} }}.</ref><ref>{{citation |title=Today |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |location=London |contribution=Memorable Mnemonics |contribution-url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9651000/9651594.stm |date=30 November 2011 }}.</ref>

{{verse translation
|Thirti dayes hath Novembir
April June and Septembir.
Of xxviij is but oon
And alle the remenaunt xxx and j<ref name=tto/>
|Thirty days have November,
April, June, and September.
Of 28 is but one
And all the remnant 30 and 1.}}

The first published English version<ref name=lucy/>{{sfnp|Cryer|2010|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=QFJHqts9xXgC&pg=PA271 "Thirty Days Has September"]}} appeared in [[Richard Grafton]]'s ''Abridgment of the Chronicles of England'' in 1562<ref name=sue>{{harvp|Grafton|1562}}.</ref> as "A Rule to Know How Many Dayes Euery Moneth in the Yere Hath":<ref name=holly>{{harvp|Holland|1992|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7uOdAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 64–5]}}.</ref>

{{verse translation
|Thirty dayes hath Nouember,
Aprill, Iune and September.
February hath xxviij alone,
And all the rest have xxxi.<ref name=sue/><ref name=holly/>
|Thirty days hath November,
April, June, and September.
February hath 28 alone,
And all the rest have 31.}}

"September" and "November" have identical rhythm and rhyme and are thus poetically interchangeable.<ref name=dick/> The early versions tended to favour November and as late as 1891 it was being given as the more common form of the rhyme in some parts of the [[United States]].<ref>{{citation |last=Ganvoort |first=A.J. |contribution=Value of Music in Public Education |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R-MBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA389 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=R-MBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA392 392] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R-MBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA339 |title=The Ohio Educational Monthly and the National Teacher, ''Vol. XL, No. 8'' |date=August 1891 |editor=Samuel Findley |display-editors=0 }}.</ref> It is less common now and September variants have a long history as well. A manuscript copy of the verse from {{c.|1555}}<ref>Stevins MS.</ref> runs:

{{poem quote
|Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone,
And that has twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year.{{sfnp|''OCDQ''|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zLDEH2TAvwUC&pg=PT45 45]}}}}

An alternate version of this verse, published in 1827, runs:

{{poem quote
|Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone. 
To which we twenty-eight assign, 
Till leap year gives it twenty-nine.<ref>Comly, John, ''Spelling Book'', Philadelphia: Kimber & Sharpless, 1827, https://books.google.com/books?id=nWwBAAAAYAAJ&q=%22September,+.+April,+June,+and+November,+All+the+rest+have+thirty-one,+Excepting+February%22&pg=PP6</ref>}}

Another version, published in 1844, runs: 

{{poem quote
|Thirty days has September, 
April, June, and November; 
All the rest have thirty-one, 
Excepting Feb-ru-a-ry alone, 
Which has twenty-eight, nay, more, 
Has twenty-nine one year in four.<ref>Fowle, William B., ''The Child's Arithmetic, Or, The Elements of Calculation, in the Spirit of Pestalozzi's Method, for the Use of Children Between the Ages of Three and Seven Years'', Boston: Wm. B. Fowle & N. Capen, 1844, https://books.google.com/books?id=8uT8GxU0FUMC&q=editions:UOM35112103818284</ref>}}

Another English version from before 1574 is found in a manuscript among the Mostyn Papers held at the [[National Library of Wales]] in [[Aberystwyth]].<ref name=tto/><ref name=wales/>

Variants appear throughout Europe. The typical Italian form is:<ref name=i4d/>

{{verse translation|lang=it
|Trenta giorni ha novembre
con aprile, giugno e settembre.
Di ventotto ce n'è uno.
Tutti gli altri ne han trentuno.<ref name=i4d>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ek2LCwAAQBAJ |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ek2LCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT101 101–2] |title=Italian for Dummies |last=Onofri |first=Francesca Romana |author2=Karen Antje Moller |author3=Teresa L. Picarazzi |display-authors=1 |publisher=Berlitz |date=2012 |isbn = 9781118258767}}.</ref>
|Thirty days have November,
April, June, and September.
With 28 there is but one.
All the rest have thirty-one.<ref name=i4d/>}}

==Legacy==
The various forms of the poem are usually considered a [[doggerel]] [[nursery rhyme]].<ref name=holly/> In the {{c.|1601}} [[academic drama]] ''[[Parnassus plays|Return from Parnassus]]'', Sir Raderic's overenthusiastic appreciation of its poetry<ref>{{harvp|Anon.|1606|loc=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t5fb5mg9m;view=1up;seq=75 Act III, sc. i]}}.</ref> is of a piece with his own low level of culture and education.<ref>{{harvp|Smeaton|1905|p=xxvi}}.</ref>

It has, however, also earned praise. It has been called "one of the most popular and oft-repeated verses in the English language"<ref name=tto/> and "probably the only sixteenth-century poem most ordinary citizens know by heart".<ref name=holly/> [[Groucho Marx]] claimed "My favorite poem is the one that starts 'Thirty Days Hath September...', because it actually means something."<ref name=tto/> On the other hand, the unhelpfulness of such an involved [[mnemonic]] has been mocked, as in the early-20th-century parody "Thirty days hath September{{nbsp}}/ But all the rest I can't remember."<ref>{{citation |title=The Cincinnati Enquirer |date=20 September 1924 |location=Cincinnati |page=6 }}.</ref> It continues to be taught in schools as children learn the calendar,<ref name=dick>{{citation |contribution=How Old is 'Thirty Days Has September...' |contribution-url=http://blog.dictionary.com/monthrhyme/ |title=Blog |url=http://blog.dictionary.com/ |publisher=Dictionary.com |date=18 January 2012 }}.</ref> although others employ the [[knuckle mnemonic]] instead.

"Thirty Days Hath September" is also occasionally parodied or referenced in wider culture, such as the 1960 [[Burma-Shave]] [[jingle]] "Thirty days{{nbsp}}/ Hath September{{nbsp}}/ April{{nbsp}}/ June and the{{nbsp}}/ [[Speed limit|Speed offender]]".<ref>{{citation |contribution=Thirty Days |contribution-url=http://burma-shave.org/jingles/1960/thirty_days |title=Jingles |publisher=Burma-Shave.org |url=http://burma-shave.org/jingles/ |date=2005 }}.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Roman calendar|Roman]], [[Julian calendar|Julian]], and [[Gregorian calendar]]s
* [[Day]] and [[month]]
* [[Knuckle mnemonic]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
* {{citation |ref={{harvid|Smeaton|1905}} |author=[[Anonymous work|Anon.]] |title=The Return from Parnassus |editor-first=Oliphant |editor-last=Smeaton |date=1905 |publisher=J.M. Dent & Co. |location=London |url=https://archive.org/stream/returnfromparnas00smea#page/n9/mode/2up }}, a reprint of the 1606 {{citation |ref={{harvid|Anon.|1606}} |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t5fb5mg9m;view=2up;seq=10;size=150 |title=The Returne from Pernassus, or, The Scourge of Simony |series = The Tudor facsimile texts|year = 1912|publisher = Issued for subscribers by the editor of the Tudor facsimile texts}}.
* {{citation |last=Bryan |first=Roger |title=It'll Come In Useful One Day |publisher=Llanina Books |date=2011 }}.
* {{citation |last=Cryer |first=Max |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QFJHqts9xXgC |title=Common Phrases... and the Amazing Stories Behind Them |date=2010 |location=New York |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |isbn=9781616081430 }}.
* {{citation |last=Grafton |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Grafton |title=Abridgement of the Chronicles of Englande |date=1562 |publisher=Richard Tottell |location=London }}.
* {{citation |last=Holland |first=Norman N. |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |title=The Critical I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uOdAwAAQBAJ |date=1992 |isbn=9780231076517 }}.
* {{citation |title=Oxford Concise Dictionary of Quotations, ''5th ed.'' |editor-last=Ratcliffe |editor-first=Susan |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zLDEH2TAvwUC |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-19-861417-3 |ref={{harvid|''OCDQ''|2006}} }}.
* {{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pThna2LDwDsC |title=The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History, and the ''Fasti'' |last=Rüpke |first=Jörg |editor-last=Richardson |editor-first=David M.B. |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |date=2011 |location=[[Malden, Massachusetts|Malden]] |isbn=9781444396522 }}, a translation of the 1995 ''{{lang|de|Kalendar und Öffentlichkeit}}''.
* {{citation |last=Mommsen |first=Theodor |title=The History of Rome |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10706/pg10706-images.html |editor-last=Dickson |editor-first=William Purdie |author-link=Theodor Mommsen |date=1894 }}, a translation of the 1861 &c. ''{{lang|de|Romische Geschichte}}''.

==External links==
* {{citation |last=Ochampaugh |first=Raenell Dawn Cardile |author2=Peter Brouwer |display-authors=1 |contribution=Days of the Month Poem |contribution-url=http://www.leapyearday.com/index.php?q=content/days-month-poem |title=Leap Year Day |publisher=Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies |date=1997 }}: 91 English variants of the poem

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thirty Days Hath September}}

[[Category:Mnemonics]]
[[Category:Calendars]]