nones

See also: Nones

English

Etymology 1

From Latin nōnus (“ninth”).

As a day of the Roman calendar, via nōnae (“ninth days”) from the original Roman practice of counting forward to the next full or new crescent moon, the nones' occurrence 8 days before the ides of every month (9 counting inclusively) following the establishment of a fixed calendar, and from the Latin practice of treating most recurring calendrical days as plurals. Some scholars believe the name is a variant of the nundines (nūndinae fēriae (“ninth-day festival”)), the Roman market days held every eight days (9 counting inclusively), which were likely announced for each coming month by the Roman kings on the first-quarter days.

As a time of day, via the plural form of Middle English, Anglo-Norman, & French none and Latin nōna (“ninth hour”) after the manner of earlier matins, vespers, etc. As a meal, from the time of day, whether from its plural, genitive, or the occasional adverbial sense of -s.

Alternative forms

• (Roman date): Nones, Non.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /nəʊnz/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊnz

Noun

nones (plural nones)

1. (historical, often capitalized) The notional first-quarter day of a Roman month, occurring on the 7th day of the four original 31-day months (March, May, Quintilis or July, and October) and on the 5th day of all other months.
   • 10th century, Byrhtferð of Ramsey, Enchiridion (Ashmolean MS 328), Book I, Chapter ii, Section 22:

     Þa monðas þe habbað iiii nonas æfter kalendas... habbað to idus xiii dagas and to ii kalendas eahtatyne.

     Those months that have 4 nones after the kalends... have 13 days to the ides and eighteen to the second kalends.

   • 14th century, John Trevisa trans. Bartholomaeus Anglicus's De Proprietatibus Rerum, folio 119:

     Þe caniculer dayes biginnyth in þe fiftenþe kalendis of august and endiþ in þe nonis of septembris, and so þey ben euene fifty as it is seide þere.

     The canicular days begin on the fifteenth kalends of August [i.e., July 18th] and end on the nones [i.e., 5th] of September, and so they are even fifty as it is said there.

   • 1679, J. Moxon, Mathematics made Easie, page 26:

     The Roman Month its several days divides
     By reckoning backwards, Calends, Nones, and Ides.

   • 2011, Robert A. Kaster trans. Macrobius, Saturnalia, Book I, Chapter xiii, Section 18:

     As for the Nones, it was thought that the multitudes should avoid mass meetings then because after the kings were expelled, the Roman people particularly celebrated what they took to be Servius Tullius's birthday: because crowds notoriously thronged all the Nones—it being well-known that Servius was born on the Nones, though the exact month was uncertain—those in charge of the calendar were afraid that if the whole population gathered on a market day it might start to revolt out of yearning for the king, and so they took the precaution of keeping the Nones and market days distinct.

   • 2011, Robert A. Kaster trans. Macrobius, Saturnalia, Book I, Chapter xiv, Section 8:

     [March, May, Quintilis, and October] also have their Nones on the seventh, as Numa ordained, because Julius changed nothing about them. As for January, Sextilis, and December, they still have their Nones on the fifth, though they began to have thirty-one days after Caesar added two days to each, and it is nineteen days from their Ides to the following Kalends, because in adding the two days Caesar did not want to insert them before either the Nones or the Ides, lest an unprecedented postponement mar religious observance associated with the Nones or Ides themselves, which have a fixed date.

   • 2015, Agnes Kirsopp Michels, Calendar of the Roman Republic‎^[1], page 21:

     The interesting thing about these ceremonies is that they must have originated in a period when the Romans were using true lunar months based on the observation of the crescent moon. The Kalends then would have been the day after the evening on which the crescent had been first sighted, the Nones would have been the first day when the moon was at the first quarter... In the calendar of the late Republic the lunar months have disappeared and the days have been fixed into a rigid pattern.

   The third day before the nones of March is March 5th; the third nones of August is August 3rd; and the third of the nones of November is November 3rd.

   Coordinate terms: calends, ides

2. (historical, sometimes capitalized) The ninth hour after dawn (about 3 pm).
   • 1709, John Johnson, The Clergy-Man's Vade Mecum, Pt. II, p. 101:

     ...the same Liturgy of prayers be used both at Nones and Vespers.
     [With the note:] Nones was what we call three o'clock in the afternoon.

   • 1805, Robert Southey, Madoc, Vol. I, xiii, 134:

     From noon till nones
     The brethren sate.

   Synonyms: none, (obsolete) noon

   Hypernyms: canonical hours, tide, stound

3. (Christianity) The divine office appointed to the hour.

   The Greek monks always listen to their reader recite Psalms 83, 84, and 85 from the Septuagint at nones.

   Synonym: none

   Hypernym: canonical hours

4. (obsolete) Alternative form of noon: the sixth hour after dawn; midday (12 pm).
5. (obsolete) Synonym of lunch: a meal eaten around noon.
   • c. 1400, William Langland, The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman (Laud MS 581), v. 378:

     I... ouer-seye me at my sopere and some tyme at nones.

Usage notes

English use of the Roman calendrical term always employs the Romans' inclusive dating, including the nones itself when counting. Thus, the "third day before the nones of March" (a.d. iii Non. Mart.) is March 5th: two days before March 7th, not three.

English usage also often follows the Latin contraction of the phrasing, which omits the words ante diem. March 5th may appear as the "third nones of March" or the "third of the nones of March". Thus, the "second nones" (prīdiē nōnās) is the 6th day of the old long months and the 4th day of the other months; the "third nones" (tertia nōnās) is the day before that; and the "fourth nones" is the day before that. The day before the fourth nones of the old short months is their calends, whereas the four old long months have a "fifth" and "sixth nones" as well.

Synonyms

• (sixth hour of daylight): midday, noon, noontide; see also Thesaurus:midday

Translations

8th day before the ides of a Roman month

• French: nones (fr) f pl
• Latin: nōnae f pl
• Macedonian: но́ни pl (nóni)
• Russian: ноны (ru) pl (nony)

9th hour after sunrise

• Catalan: nona (ca) f
• Icelandic: nón n
• Old English: nōn n, nōntīd f, nōntīma m

afternoon liturgical service

• Catalan: nona (ca) f
• French: none (fr)
• Latin: nōna
• Old English: nōn n, nōnsang m

midday — see noon

midday meal — see lunch

Etymology 2

See Nones.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /nʌnz/
• Rhymes: -ʌnz

Noun

nones pl

1. Alternative form of Nones: atheists or those without religious affiliation.
   • 2003, Jacob A. Belzen, Antoon Geels, Mysticism: A Variety of Psychological Perspectives‎^[2], page 50:

     Both the religiously dis-identified ("nones") and the religiously committed report mystical experiences.

   • 2010, Robert D. Putnam, David E Campbell, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us‎^[3], page 591:

     Stable nones, that is, people who report in both years that they have no religious affiliation, are, in fact, much less religious

   • 2013, Michael Corbett, Politics and Religion in the United States:

     we have grouped people into nones (no religion), Jews, Catholics, mainline Protestants, and evangelical protestants.

Anagrams

• Sonne, neons, onsen, sonne

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈnɔ.nəs]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈnɔ.nes]

Noun

nones

1. plural of nona (“sleep”)
2. (historical) nones (Roman day)

Old French

Noun

nones f pl

1. nominative plural of none

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnones/ [ˈno.nes]
• Rhymes: -ones
• Syllabification: no‧nes

Adverb

nones

1. absolutely not; no way

Further reading

• “nones”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• lunes

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish nones, plural of non (“odd”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈnones/ [ˈn̪oː.n̪ɛs]
• Rhymes: -ones
• Syllabification: no‧nes

Adjective

nones (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜓᜈᜒᜐ᜔)

1. odd (indivisible by two)

   Synonym: gansal

   Antonym: pares