Still, the recurrence of the appearances which suggest the notion of a Year is so obvious, that we can hardly conceive man without it. But though, in all climes and times, there would be a recurrence, and at the same interval in all, the recurring appearances would be extremely different in different countries; and the contrasts and resemblances of the seasons would be widely varied. In some places the winter utterly alters the face of the country, converting grassy hills, deep leafy woods of various hues of green, and running waters, into snowy and icy wastes, and bare snow-laden branches; while in others, the field retains its herbage, and the tree its leaves, all the year; and the rains and the sunshine alone, or various agricultural employments quite different from ours, mark the passing seasons. Yet in all parts of the world the yearly cycle of changes has been singled out from all others, and designated by a peculiar name. The inhabitant of the equatorial regions has the sun vertically over him at the end of every period of six months, and similar trains of celestial phenomena fill up each of these intervals, yet we do not find years of six months among such nations. The Arabs alone,[1\3] who practise neither agriculture nor navigation, have a year depending upon the moon only; and borrow the word from other languages, when they speak of the solar year. [Note 1\3: Ideler, _Berl. Trans._ 1813, p. 51.] In general, nations have marked this portion of time by some word which has a reference to the returning circle of seasons and employments. Thus the Latin _annus_ signified a ring, as we see in the derivative _annulus_: the Greek term ἐνιαυτὸς implies something which _returns into itself_: and the word as it exists in Teutonic languages, of which our word _year_ is an example, is said to have its origin in the word _yra_ which means a ring in Swedish, and is perhaps connected with the Latin _gyrus_. _Sect._ 2.--_Fixation of the Civil Year._