june

June is probably derived from iuvenis (“young”), but it is also linked to the goddess Juno, who personifies young women. In Scots Gaelic, the month is known as Ian t-òg-mbìos, the “young month”; and in Welsh, as Mehefin, the “middle.” According to weather lore, Calm weather in June, Sets corn in tune. To june a herd of animals is to drive them in a brisk or lively manner. Wilfred Gowers-Round asserts that “June is the reality of the Poetic’s claims for May.” In parts of South Africa, the verb to june-july is slang for shaking or shivering with fear — because these months, while summer in the north, are midwinter in the south.