The original name of this month is Sextilis because it was the 6th month in the Ancient Calendar. Then it was named Augustus in honor of the Emperor Augustus.
The name "Augustus" is avery complex term: just thinking to the fact
that the prefix "aug" connotates also names like "augur" or "augurium".
In any case it evidences a polarization of energy.
This month is dedicated to harvest, storage and conservation (in a broader sense).
In particular August is dedicated to the Goddess Diana or the female polarity of Apollo.
Diana is defined as "Always Distant": she is a non-urban Goddess because
she represents the sacralization of woods, forrests and wild places.
Her frantic dance, reserved only to women, is named "Ridda".
During the day Diana protects wild animals preserving their lives;
during the night she hunts them giving them Death. In this way Diana
embodies both Life and Death as deriving from an unique source.
Sacred animals to Diana are: lion, bear, deer, quail and hunting dog.
As Apollo is represented by the Sun, Diana is represented by the Moon.
Her main symbol is the Bow representing the crescent moon and the "wild
weapon".
2 commenti:
Hello! Thank you for writing your blog, but I must disagree with you regarding Augustus and la particella aug. Aug is a root, a base for the word Augustus, but it is a separate word and idea from augur.
Augustus comes from the latin verb augeo (infinitive augere, perfect tense auxi, passive auctum). It means to grow, to increase in the most positive sense. This verb «augeo» verb is used in the perfect tense in the form «Auxi» (the first person singular active in the perfect tense) and we see that it is related to the word Auxilium, help/aid.
In modern Italian, we have Aumènto and Aumentare. G + M is not smooth and conflicted with the accented syllable, so the G was lost from augmènto. Do you agree or disagree?
Auger is from Latin Avis with the suffix Ger, which is used to indicate possession or carrying and comes from the verb Gero. Avis gero (or avis gerends), bird-carrying, and Augurs were very specific for the Romans. Augurs looked at birds. Romans also had «Haruspex». The Haruspex looked inside animals, in the entrails to make predictions.
In modern Italian, the suffix Ger is sometimes still used: Famigerato (fama + gerato, to carry fame, to be known) and Belligerante (belli + gerante, to carry inside a war).
And as you are aware, while Belligerante and Bella may look similar in Italian and appear to have similar roots, nevertheless they are not related. Belligerante is negative and Bella is positive. So too with Augustus and Augur, two words that are from separate meanings even if they appear similar.
When I looked at your Roman calendar, I did note that a few Roman customs still survive. Ferragosto in Italy to-day treats the Virgin Mother Mary similar to Diana. I do not know about the Festa in onore di Astrea, but I have heard of a modern Italian event on a nearby day called Calici di Stelle.
thank you again and the fault is mine if my English is not clear enough for you, humbly,
silkie
Dear friend,
first of all I would like to thank you for your interest in this little blog. The issue you are discussing is very interesting and it will require long time to be analyzed in detail. I hope to be able in the near future to discuss role, value and sense of Latin (as Sacred Language) What I can say here is that we must consider that Latin (as we commonly know) is a construction made in the middle age by the Christian Hierarchy totally deprived of its original value. The greater part of the sacred meaning of this language has been lost or misunderstood. Latin is a more complex language than we usually know not only in gramatical but also in symbolical terms. The Antique Science of the Letters and Names can show how difficult can be the understanding of Latin for not-initiated or profane people. I have just a little knwoledge about this science and many topics and subjects are still very difficult for me to understand. I repeat: it's not just a problem of "grammar" and it's important to dismiss our scientific and modern perspective when approaching to a dimension having very few links with the present times. We have lost our symbolic capability to see the World: so, approaching to Latin, it's importanto to re-gain progressively this view. This is to say that Latin has different levels and grades: so we are probably discussing about two different things. I will explain this in a better way as soon as posssible.
I'm not very good about popular profane festivals. The only thing I can say is that Ferragosto is the vulgar name for "Feriae Augustae", the long festivity period dedicated to the Emperor Augustus. I know ery little about the rest (Madonna of something or something else).
However I appreciate you expertise very much and I thank you for your highly stimulating considerations.
Pax et Fortuna
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