Ambivalence over the name of the third season of the year reflects its status as a relatively new concept. As natural as it seems today, people haven't always thought of the year in terms of four seasons.
Fifteen hundred years ago, the Anglo-Saxons marked the passage of time with just one season: winter, a concept considered equivalent to hardship or adversity that metaphorically represented the year in its entirety. For example, in the Old English epic poem "Beowulf," the title character rescues a kingdom that had been terrorized by a monster for "12 winters. Anderson, the importance of winter in marking the passage of time is evidenced by the constancy of its name over time and across many languages.
Summer is also a time-honored concept, though perhaps never quite as weighty a one as winter, and this is evidenced by greater ambivalence over its name. The two terms are actually first recorded within a few hundred years of each other. The word is of Germanic stock and meant "picking," "plucking," or " reaping ," a nod to the act of gathering and preserving crops before winter.
In the s, English speakers began referring to the seasons separating the cold and warm months as either the fall of the leaf or spring of the leaf , or fall and spring for short. Both terms were simple and evocative, but for some reason, only spring had staying power in Britain. Almost everybody loves the fall season, and most of us can guess where the term "fall" came from if you can't, don't worry, I'll explain that too.
However, why do we call fall "autumn"? Well, turns out, there is a real reason — and it's it's actually somewhat interesting, believe it or not. Believe it! One early American lexicographer, John Pickering, noted in his entry for fall :. A friend has pointed out to me the following remark on this word: "In North America the season in which this [the fall of the leaf] takes place, derives its name from that circumstance, and instead of autumn is universally called the fall.
We aren't sure why fall flourished in the United States—Pickering's friend gives us no further particulars—but by the mids, fall was considered to be entirely American by American lexicographers. Fall is still occasionally used in countries where British English is spoken, but usually only in a handful of fixed phrases, like spring and fall.
Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Why does this season have two vastly different names? What to Know Autumn and fall are used interchangeably as words for the season between summer and winter.
More Words At Play. Merriam-Webster's Words of the Week - Oct. Merriam-Webster's Words of the Week - Nov.
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