Editing Roman calendar (section)

==Days==
{{main|Kalends}}
Roman dates were [[inclusive counting|counted inclusively]] forward to the next one of three principal days within each month:<ref name=odalay/>

* '''[[Kalends]]''' (''{{lang|la|Kalendae}}'' or ''{{lang|la|Kal.}}''), the first day of each month<ref name=odalay>{{harvp|Beck|1838|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uJgQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA175 175]}}.</ref>
* '''Nones''' (''{{lang|la|Nonae}}'' or ''{{lang|la|Non.}}''), the seventh{{spaces}}day of "full months"<ref name=loser/>{{efn|The original 31-day months of the Roman calendar were March, May, Quintilis or July, and October.|name=four}} and fifth{{spaces}}day of hollow ones,<ref name=odalay/> 8{{spaces}}days before the Ides in every month
* '''Ides''' (''{{lang|la|Idus}}'', variously ''{{lang|la|Eid.}}'' or ''{{lang|la|Id.}}''), the 15th{{spaces}}day of "full months"<ref name=loser/>{{efn||name=four}} and the 13th{{spaces}}day of hollow ones,<ref name=odalay/> one day earlier than the middle of each month.

These are thought to reflect a prehistoric lunar calendar, with the kalends proclaimed after the sighting of the first sliver of the new crescent moon a day or two after the [[new moon]], the nones occurring on the day of the [[first-quarter moon]], and the ides on the day of the [[full moon]]. The kalends of each month were sacred to [[Juno (goddess)|Juno]] and the ides to [[Jupiter (planet)|Jupiter]].{{sfnp|Ovid|loc=Book I, ll. 55–56}}{{sfnp|Kline|2004|loc=[https://web.archive.org/web/20050419220209/http://www.tkline.freeserve.co.uk/OvidFastiBkOne.htm Book I, Introduction]}} The day before each was known as its eve (''{{lang|la|pridie}}''); the day after each (''{{lang|la|postridie}}'') was considered particularly unlucky.

The days of the month were expressed in early Latin using the [[ablative of time]], denoting points in time, in the contracted form "the 6th{{spaces}}December Kalends" (''{{lang|la|VI Kalendis Decembribus}}'').<ref name=loser/> In classical Latin, this use continued for the three principal days of the month<ref name=perdedor>{{harvp|Beck|1838|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uJgQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA177 177]}}.</ref> but other days were idiomatically expressed in the [[accusative case]], which usually [[accusative of time|expressed a duration of time]], and took the form "6th day before the December Kalends" (''{{lang|la|ante diem VI Kalendas Decembres}}''). This anomaly may have followed the treatment of days in [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]],{{sfnp|Smyth|1920|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0007%3Apart%3D4%3Achapter%3D42%3Asection%3D97%3Asubsection%3D89 §§1582–1587]}} reflecting the increasing use of such date phrases as an absolute phrase able to function as the object of another preposition,<ref name=loser>{{harvp|Beck|1838|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uJgQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA176 176]}}.</ref> or simply originated in a mistaken agreement of ''{{lang|la|dies}}'' with the preposition ''{{lang|la|ante}}'' once it moved to the beginning of the expression.<ref name=loser/> In [[late Latin]], this idiom was sometimes abandoned in favor of again using the ablative of time.

The kalends were the day for payment of debts and the account books (''{{lang|la|kalendaria}}'') kept for them gave English its word ''[[calendar]]''. The public Roman calendars were the ''[[fasti]]'', which designated the religious and legal character of each month's days. The Romans marked each day of such calendars with the letters:{{sfnp|Scullard|1981|pp=44–45}}

* '''F''' (''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#fasti|fastus]]'', "permissible") on days when it was legal to initiate action in the courts of civil law (''{{lang|la|dies fasti}}'', "allowed days")
* '''C''' (''comitialis'') on ''fasti'' days during which the Roman people could hold [[Legislative assemblies of the Roman Republic|assemblies]] (''{{lang|la|dies comitiales}}'')
* '''N''' (''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#nefastus|nefastus]]'') on days when political and judicial activities were prohibited (''{{lang|la|dies nefasti}}'')
* '''NP''' (uncertain){{efn|The NP days are sometimes thought to mark days when political and judicial activities were prohibited only until [[noon]], standing for ''{{lang|la|nefastus priore}}''.}} on public holidays (''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#feria|feriae]]'')
* '''QRCF''' (uncertain){{efn|The QRCF days are sometimes supposed, on the basis of the ''Fasti Viae Lanza'' which gives it as ''{{lang|la|Q. Rex C. F.}}'', to stand for "Permissible when the King Has Entered the Comitium" (''{{lang|la|Quando Rex Comitiavit Fas}}'').{{sfnp|Rüpke|2011|pp=26–27}}}} on days when the "king" (''[[rex sacrorum]]'') could convene an assembly
* '''EN''' (''{{lang|la|endotercissus}}'', an [[Old Latin|archaic form]] of ''{{lang|la|intercissus}}'', "halved") on days when most political and religious activities were prohibited in the morning and evening due to [[religion in ancient Rome#Sacrifice|sacrifices]] being prepared or offered but were acceptable for a period in the middle of the day

Each day was also marked by a letter from A to H to indicate its place within the [[nundinal cycle]] of market days.