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Kalends

Time And Calendar
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The first day of a month in the Roman calendar. The term is often used in historical or mock-formal poetic language.

Detailed Definition
Kalends, or Calends, was the Roman name for the first day of each month, when debts were traditionally recorded and accounts settled. Since the ancient Greek calendar had no Kalends, the phrase “to the Greek Kalends” came to mean never. Poets may use the term to evoke Roman civic life, formal proclamation, or comic postponement. It can make a simple beginning of the month feel ceremonial, bureaucratic, or charged with obligations that have come due.
Example
Example in poetry:
In the Roman calendar, the Kalends marked the first day of each month, making them useful for precise historical imagery; “At the Kalends of April, the city counted its debts and opened its doors to rain,” evokes Roman civic life; The phrase “to the Greek Kalends” meant never, because the Greeks did not use Kalends, and a poet can use it ironically; A speaker might say, “Promise me love by the Greek Kalends,” meaning the promise will never be fulfilled
Additional Notes
Kalends marked the first day of a Roman month. The phrase “until the Greek Kalends” means never, since Greeks did not use Kalends; it can add irony or mock-formal historical color.
Other Meanings of “Kalends”
Also Known As
Calends
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