THE circle of changes through which the moon passes in about thirty days, is marked, in the earliest stages of language, by a word which implies the space of time which one such circle occupies; just {119} as the circle of changes of the seasons is designated by the word _year_. The lunar changes are, indeed, more obvious to the sense, and strike a more careless person, than the annual; the moon, when the sun is absent, is almost the sole natural object which attracts our notice; and we look at her with a far more tranquil and agreeable attention than we bestow on any other celestial object. Her changes of form and place are definite and striking to all eyes; they are uninterrupted, and the duration of their cycle is so short as to require no effort of memory to embrace it. Hence it appears to be more easy, and in earlier stages of civilization more common, to count time by _moons_ than by years. The words by which this period of time is designated in various languages, seem to refer us to the early history of language. Our word _month_ is connected with the word _moon_, and a similar connection is noticeable in the other branches of the Teutonic. The Greek word μὴν in like manner is related to μήνη, which though not the common word for the moon, is found in Homer with that signification. The Latin word _mensis_ is probably connected with the same group.[17\3] [Note 17\3: Cicero derives this word from the verb _to measure_: "quia _mensa_ spatia conficiunt, _menses_ nominantur;" and other etymologists, with similar views, connect the above-mentioned words with the Hebrew _manah_, to measure (with which the Arabic word _almanach_ is connected). Such a derivation would have some analogy with that of _annus_, &c., noticed above: but if we are to attempt to ascend to the earliest condition of language, we must conceive it probable that men would have a name for a most conspicuous visible object, _the moon_, before they would have a verb denoting the very abstract and general notion, _to measure_.] The month is not any exact number of days, being more than 29, and less than 30. The latter number was first tried, for men more readily select numbers possessing some distinction of regularity. It existed for a long period in many countries. A very few months of 30 days, however, would suffice to derange the agreement between the days of the months and the moon's appearance. A little further trial would show that months of 29 and 30 days alternately, would preserve, for a considerable period, this agreement.