What does calends mean?
The calends (Latin Kalendae) were the first day of each month in the ancient Roman calendar, a day associated with the new moon and with the settling of accounts, since interest on debts came due then. Roman months contained three fixed reference points — the calends, the nones, and the ides — and all other dates were counted backwards from the next one. The word survives today only as an archaism or literary curiosity, but it lives on vividly in the idiom 'the Greek calends': because the Greek reckoning of the month had no equivalent of the calends, postponing something to that day means putting it off forever. Medieval and later writers adopted the phrase as a wry way of saying 'never', and it remains a colorful alternative for anyone weary of plain 'when pigs fly'. The same Latin root gave English the far more common word 'calendar'. Though rare in everyday speech, calends rewards readers of classical history, Renaissance literature, and older English prose.
The first day of each month in the ancient Roman calendar, from which the other days of the month were counted backwards.
"Accounts were settled on the calends, when the new moon marked the start of the Roman month."
Invariantly plural in form: one says 'the calends of March', not 'the calend of March'.
In the phrase 'the Greek calends', a date that will never come; a postponed event that will never happen.
"His promised apology was deferred to the Greek calends and never arrived."
The word has no singular form in common use; it always occurs as 'the calends', referring collectively to the first-of-the-month days of the Roman calendar.
"Debts came due on the calends of every month."
When someone promises something 'on the Greek calends', they're promising it on a day that doesn't exist — in other words, never.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of calends
The word derives from Latin Kalendae, the first day of the Roman month, so called because on that day debtors were called upon (calare, 'to proclaim or summon') to settle interest owed. The root is the Proto-Indo-European *kel-, seen in Greek kalein ('to call'), and the same Latin lineage produced medieval Latin calendae/kalendarium, whence English 'calendar' via Old French. English borrowed calends directly from Latin, likely through learned ecclesiastical use, and it has been attested since early medieval times; the figurative phrase 'Greek calends', denoting a day that never comes, passed into English through medieval Latin usage.
How calends is actually used
Always used in the plural form 'calends' even when referring to a single month's first day. The word is archaic and appears almost exclusively in historical or literary contexts today; its most familiar modern survival is the idiom 'the Greek calends', which the Greeks themselves had no reason to use, since their calendars had no such day.
Easily confused with calends
A calendar is a system for organizing days into months and years, while calends refers specifically to the first day of the Roman month; the two words share a Latin root but differ entirely in meaning.