Gregorian calendar
Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar (pronounced /ɡrɪˈɡɔːriən/), also known as the Western calendar or Christian calendar, is the most widely used calendar system today. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in October 1582 as a modification of the Julian calendar.
Etymology
The term "Gregorian" comes from the name of Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced the calendar. The word "calendar" is derived from the Latin kalendae, which means "the first day of the month".
History
The Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, as a reform to the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, had a discrepancy due to its calculation of the year as 365.25 days long. Over centuries, this discrepancy resulted in a shift of dates for the vernal equinox, which affected the calculation of Easter.
The Gregorian reform modified the Julian calendar by introducing a new method for determining leap years, effectively correcting the shift in the vernal equinox. The reform was gradually adopted by various countries over the following centuries.
Structure
The Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar with 12 months of 28 to 31 days each. A regular year in the Gregorian calendar has 365 days, but in certain years known as leap years, a leap day is added to February. The leap years in the Gregorian calendar are those that are evenly divisible by 4, with the exception of end-of-century years, which must be divisible by 400 to be leap years.
Related Terms
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Gregorian calendar
- Wikipedia's article - Gregorian calendar
This WikiMD dictionary article is a stub. You can help make it a full article.
Languages: - East Asian
中文,
日本,
한국어,
South Asian
हिन्दी,
Urdu,
বাংলা,
తెలుగు,
தமிழ்,
ಕನ್ನಡ,
Southeast Asian
Indonesian,
Vietnamese,
Thai,
မြန်မာဘာသာ,
European
español,
Deutsch,
français,
русский,
português do Brasil,
Italian,
polski