august
The august August procession draws crowds to the old cathedral.
Both words descend from the same Latin adjective 'augustus', but English borrowed it twice, six centuries apart, and the two arrivals stressed it differently. The month came in during the Old English period straight from Latin and settled its stress on the first syllable, /ˈɔːɡəst/; the adjective was re-imported from French in the mid-1600s and kept the Latin stress on the second, /ɔːˈɡʌst/. Most heteronyms in this collection split because one English word drifted in place; this one split because the same word walked through the door twice, and setting the pair back to back lets the ear hear the whole gap between the borrowings in a single beat.
Meanings
inspiring reverence or admiration; imposing through dignity, age, or long-established standing, as of an assembly, institution, or person
- The commission answers to an august body of trustees.
- He addressed the august assembly without a single note.
the eighth month of the Gregorian calendar, renamed from Sextilis in 8 BC in honour of the emperor Augustus
- The court sits in recess for the whole of August.
- Their anniversary falls in the last week of August.
Word origin
From Latin 'augustus' ('consecrated, venerable'), generally traced to 'augere' ('to increase'), the root behind 'augment', 'auction', and 'author'. The Roman senate conferred the title Augustus on Octavian in 27 BC, and in 8 BC the month Sextilis was renamed for him. English took the month name directly from Latin in the Old English period; the adjective arrived far later, in the mid-seventeenth century, by way of French 'auguste'.
Fun fact
Before the Latin name took hold, the Anglo-Saxons called the month Wēodmōnaþ — 'weed month' — because, as Bede explained in 'The Reckoning of Time', that is when weeds grow most abundantly. One Old English text records both names in a single breath: 'Agustus mōnaþ on ūre geþēode wē nemnaþ Wēodmōnaþ.'