{"id":23032,"date":"2016-03-09T14:00:35","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=23032"},"modified":"2017-10-24T16:02:32","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T14:02:32","slug":"twice-as-nice-with-two-sixes-leap-years-in-french","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/twice-as-nice-with-two-sixes-leap-years-in-french\/","title":{"rendered":"Twice As Nice With Two Sixes – Leap Years In French"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are chanceux<\/strong> (lucky), or maybe malchanceux<\/strong> (unlucky), last week was the first time in quatre ans<\/strong> (four years) that you were able to celebrate your anniversaire<\/a><\/strong> (birthday).<\/p>\n

Tous les quatres ans<\/strong> (every four years) there is a leap year, but it wasn\u2019t until last week that I realized I did not know how to say leap year<\/em> in French!<\/p>\n

Thinking in English<\/a> got me nowhere when I tried to talk to people about l\u2019ann\u00e9e saut\u00e9e<\/em> (litterally leap\/jump year)<\/em>, because it\u2019s l\u2019ann\u00e9e bissextile<\/strong> in French. I had never seen or heard the word bissextile<\/em> <\/strong>before, but in doing research for this post I found out the word does exist in English!<\/p>\n

That still didn’t help me understand were the word came from, so I looked up l’eytmologie<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Bissextile<\/strong> <\/em>can be broken down into two parts:<\/p>\n

Bis-sextile<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bis<\/strong> \u2013 meaning two or twice (ie binocular, bicycle, bisexual)
\nSextile<\/strong> \u2013 sixth<\/p>\n

Deux six? Mais pourquoi !<\/strong>
\nTwo sixes? But why!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

C\u2019est une longue histoire<\/strong> (it\u2019s a long story) that goes back into les calendriers diff\u00e9rentes<\/strong> (the different calendars) used in Europe. The need for un jour intercalaire<\/strong> (an intercalary day) is old, dating back to the Roman calendars that notre calendrier actuel<\/strong> (our modern calendar) comes from. Cependant<\/strong> (however) the day was not always le 29 f\u00e9vrier<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Le calendrier julien<\/strong> (the Julian Calendar) needed un jour intercalaire tous les quartes ans<\/strong> just like notre calendrier actuel<\/strong>. This day was a second 24 f\u00e9vrier<\/strong>, but it gets more complicated.<\/p>\n

Les Romains<\/strong> (the Romans) had a different way of looking at le calendrier<\/strong> and depending on the day would count backwards from the start of the next month when talking about a specific date. Par exemple<\/strong> (for example), Le 24<\/strong> was the sixth day before March.<\/p>\n

The result of all of that is that during une ann\u00e9e bissextile<\/strong> there were two \u201csix days before March\u201d.<\/p>\n

Or in Latin<\/a>:<\/p>\n

ante diem bis sextum Kalendas Martias<\/strong>
\n\u00ab le sixi\u00e8me jour bis avant les calendes (le premier jour) de mars \u00bb
\n\u201cthe second sixth day before the calends (the first day) of March\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Le calendrier<\/strong> changed, but the name stuck. Even after the the day changed from le 24<\/strong> to le 29<\/strong>, l\u2019ann\u00e9e bissextile<\/strong> remained. La vraie question<\/strong> (the real question) is whether having your anniversaire<\/strong><\/a> on the second 24th would be better than on le 29<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Laissez un commentaire<\/strong> (leave a comment) if your anniversaire<\/strong><\/a> is on le 29 f\u00e9vrier !<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

If you are chanceux (lucky), or maybe malchanceux (unlucky), last week was the first time in quatre ans (four years) that you were able to celebrate your anniversaire (birthday). Tous les quatres ans (every four years) there is a leap year, but it wasn\u2019t until last week that I realized I did not know how…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":23033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23032","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t