calends, kalends, n. pl.
(ˈkæləndz)
Forms: [1 sing. calend, kalendus], 4–5 calendis, kalendis, -es, (sing. kalende, 5 calende), (4 kalendez, -us, 5 kalandes, 5–6 kalendas), 5–7 calendes, (6 kalendies, callends, 7 calands), 6– calends, kalends.
[ad. L. kalendæ, -as n. pl., first day of the month, on which the order of days was proclaimed; f. root kal-, cal-, which appears in L. calāre, Gr. καλεῖν to call, proclaim. (Or a. F. kalendes, 13th c. in Littré.) The singular calend is rare and obs.; it occurs in OE. in the sense ‘month’. No sing. was used in Latin.]
1. The first day of any month in the Roman calendar: the term was more or less retained in actual use down to the 17th c.
(The Romans reckoned the days forward to the Kalends, Nones, or Ides next following. Thus, ‘on the 27th of May’ was ‘ante diem sextum Kalendas Junias’. This was loosely rendered into English as ‘the sixth of the Kalends of June’, or ‘the sixth Kalends of June’. Cf. nones, ides.)
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. xxi. (1495) 359 The fyrste daye of a monthe hath the name of Kalendis. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 345 By the kalendez of Juny we schalle encountre ones. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 93 A waytiþ not þeis Egipcian daies, þat we call dysmal, ne kalendis of Janiuer. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 30 In Marche Kalendes in the soile ydight. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) i. xlvii. 87/2 The fyrste daye of the yere, that is the fyrste Kalendas of Januarye. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 1239/1 In the yeare of our redemption, one thousand, one hundred, thirtie and three, the fift calends of June, being the three and thirtith yeare of the reigne of Henrie the first. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 94 Wee tooke our iourney..about the kalends of June. 1626 Massinger Rom. Actor v. i, Thou Shalt die to-morrow, being the fourteenth of The Kalends of October. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low-C. Warrs 337 Those that belonged to the City, marched out safe the Seventh of the Calends of August. a 1764 Lloyd Two Odes Wks. 1774 I. 121 On thy blest Calends, April. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. iii. 96 The calends of May and November. |
b. With reference to debts and interest being then due: Settling day.
| 1643 Milton Divorce (1851) Introd. 10 How they will compound, and in what Calends. |
† 2. a. In OE. A month; also, appointed time, season.
| a 1000 Menol. 7 (Gr.) Se kalendus kymeð..us to tune; hine folc mycel Januarius heton. Ibid. 31 Kalend..Martius reðe. a 1000 Sol. & Sat. 479 (Gr.) ær se dæᵹ cyme, þæt sy his calend cwide (?) arunnen. |
† b. In Scripture versions: Applied to the Jewish festival of the new moon. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. i. 14 Ȝoure kalendis and ȝoure solempnetees hatede my soule [1388 my soule hatith ȝoure calendis]. ― 1 Sam. xx. 5 David seide to Jonathan, Loo! Kalendis ben to morwe. 1565 Jewell Def. Apol. (1611) 60 God commanded the people to keepe the Calends and new Moones. 1609 Bible (Douay) Numb. xxviii. 11 In the Calendes you shal offer an holocaust to the Lord [1382 Wyclif, In the calendis forsothe, that is, in the bigynnyngis of monthes]. |
3. Phrases. † a. calends of exchange: ? a money changer's calendar, reckoning, or account; hence, business or practical reckoning.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1647 This Troylus this lettre thought al straunge..Hym thought it like a Kalendes of chaunge. 1470 Harding Chron. xiii. i, Brutus..called this Isle Briteyn..So was the name of this ilke Albyon All sette on side in Kalandes of achaunge. Ibid. lxxii. ii, Her goodlyhede..chaunged all his corage and manhede, In Kalandes of eschaunge he was [so] impressed. |
b. on (at) the Greek Calends (L. ad Græcas kalendas): humorous for Never; since the Greeks used no calends in their reckoning of time.
| a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Consid. Parlt. Wks. (1711) 185 That gold, plate, and all silver, given to the mint-house in these late troubles, shall be paid at the Greek Kalends. 1656 Blount Glossogr. s.v., At the Greek Calends, never; for the Greks have no Calends. 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf. T. i. 18 His friends looked for it only on the Greek Calends, say on the 31st of April, when that should come round, if you would modernize the phrase. 1882 Macm. Mag. 253 So we go on..and the works are sent to the Greek Calends. |
† 4. fig. First days, beginning, first taste, prelude. (Also in sing.) Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. Prol. 7 Now of hope the kalendis bygynne. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. xiv. Sel. Wks. II. 261 Kalendis of þis siȝt hadde Poul whan he was ravyshed. 1423 Jas. I King's Q. vi. v, Gave me in hert kalendis of confort. a 1618 Raleigh Rem. (1644) 114 What is age, but the Calends of death? |
5. A calendar, record. (Also in sing. rare.)
| 1470 Harding Chron. ccxl. xxix, I make you a kalende Of all the waie to Edenbourgth. 1590 Greene Mourn. Garm. (1616) 45 Their looks are like Calends, that can determine no certaintie. 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart., Sir J. Oldcastle F iij b, Him for a Saint within your Kalends hold. 1866 E. H. Bickersteth Yesterd., to-day, &c. xii. 317 Festivals that stand On the sidereal calends marked in light. |