WTI Magazine #79    2016 May 13
Author : Giosuè Prezioso      Translation by:

We are in May, and soon, in a couple of weeks, we will be enjoying longer days, hotter weeks, and more pleasant mornings: summer is coming! However, 'summer' does not strictly mean 'sun' and 'sunbathing', 'beach' and 'gelato', summer may also mean t-w-e-n-t-y-f-o-u-r endless hours of light, as it happens in Sweden, Lapponia, and small areas in Scandinavia.

The meaning of 'summer', 'fall', 'spring' and 'winter' is not always the same. For instance, in Italian and English the origins of these words is quite different, and it depends on geography, etymology and especially on moods, the ones deriving from the place we are talking about. Let's see how these change.
The word winter, 'inverno' in Italian, seems to originate from the Germanic words wend or wed, meaning 'wet', from 'water'. Hence, the literal meaning of winter is 'the wet season', 'the one of water', due to the abundance of water and raining (which may also validate the secondary meaning of the word vindo, meaning 'white', 'the white season'). In Italian, 'inverno' draws from the Sanskrit word him, then become hiems in Latin and meaning cold and frieze, linked to the suffix – ernum and signifying 'time', 'period of...'. Therefore, inverno literally means "the cold time", characterizing the season most of the people dislike and less popularly prefer.

The following season, spring, 'primavera' in Italian, developed from the original Old English term lencten, extension of the West Germanic word langa, and meaning 'long'. This word was figuratively meant at representing the length of spring's days, as clearly longer and more pleasant than winter's. In Italian, 'primavera' is made up of two words: prima, meaning 'first', 'prime', and then vers, probably coming from Sanskrit and meaning 'warmth', 'splendor', 'heat'. Hence, primavera literally means 'first warmth, heat', expressing the sense of sweet, pleasant warmth this season is characteristic of. According to some, the word vers (composing prima-vera) is associated to Vesta, the Roman vestal virgin whose temple had a big, strong fire controlled by her priestesses.

The season following spring is summer. Coming from the Old English word sumor and from the Proto-Germanic sumur, the word summer seems to echo the Sanskrit term sem, meaning "together", "one", and more extensively "year". Poorly satisfactory, this translation seems also linked to the other Sanskrit word sama, meaning "half-year" but also "season"; this may reflect the primary division of the year into two main seasons: winter and summer. In Italian the word for summer is "estate". Deriving from the Greek word aithos and meaning 'heat' and 'warmth', the original meaning of this season is associated to the intense warmth and heat it is characterized of.

Last but not least, Fall – or Autumn – is the season "closing the circle". Originally called 'harvest' – recalling 'Herbst' in German and 'Herfst' in Dutch – the word Fall firstly appeared in the 16th century, as a contraction of the Middle English expression "fall of the leaf". However, the very first word for Fall was 'autumn' (more common in America). Quite vague, the origins of 'autumn' seem to derive from the Etruscans, who indicated with autu the passing of the year, or, according to others, it relates to the Latin verb augère, meaning to grow and enrich, as this season is full of fruits, vegetables and goods. Moreover, it seems possible the link with the Sanskrit word avati and meaning to get full, pleased and satisfied, underlining the abundance of this season and its fruits. In Italian, the word for Fall is 'autunno' and, deriving from Latin, it shares the same origins of autumn, its direct cognate.

Interestingly enough, the meaning of 'winter', 'summer', 'spring' and 'fall' differs in the two languages. However, the word for 'season', "stagione" in Italian, comes from the same root. Originating from the French word saison, the English word draws from the Latin verb sationem, which means 'sowing and planting', the two main actions characterizing and differentiating the year and its seasons. In fact, the quaternary rotation of the year is strictly linked to gardening, planting, and sowing, main essential actions changing throughout the year.

Therefore, in the ancient world, the annual division depended upon the way nature behaved: rigidly, warmly, generously, or sadly: like a human. Not by chance, in the ancient world, the Greeks gave to Demeter the role of being the Goddess of the Harvest, the one who, because of a misfortune, created the four seasons. According to the myth, Demeter was mother of Persephone, a beautiful charming girl. One day, because of a fatal love, Hades abducted her to the Underworld, so that her mother, furious for Hades' action, stopped feeding the Earth and the vegetation grow. In order to stop this fight, Zeus, who was the major God, ordered Hades to let Persephone go; but, before doing so, the God made her eat some pomegranate seeds, which forced the girl to return every year, for a short time, in the dark and dangerous Underworld. Therefore, when Persephone was with her mother, Demeter let cheerfully nature grow and prosper; on the other hand, when she was with Hades, wind and cold covered the whole earth, making the ground sterile, bare and unfertile.

In this way, according to the Greeks, the year had its own four seasons, and we, changing a bit the story, still respect the fearsome Demeter.