The history of autumn or fall is something I have never really thought about. It’s just always been there for me. It comes and goes every year. But, why is it called autumn? What is it’s true purpose? Why is it even a season? These are questions that just became interesting to me. I want to educate you like the world wide web educated me on the history of fall!

Fall in the Northern Hemisphere comes in September, and in the Southern Hemisphere it comes in March.

But you see, fall didn’t always exist. Back in the olden days, about 1,500 years ago, there weren’t four seasons at all. There was winter. That is how they kept track of time. When winter came around, they knew it had been a full year.

The Oxford Dictionary defines winter like this:

win·terˈwin(t)ər/ noun 1.


Ultimately, people created autumn to mark the transition from summer to winter. They thought it would be helpful, and quite frankly they were right.

“Harvest was one of the original names for Autumn,” according to Natalie Wolchover, author of the article “Why Does Fall/Autumn Have Two Names?” written for “In the 18th century, ‘harvest’ had lost its seasonal meaning altogether, and ‘fall’ and ‘autumn’ emerged as the two accepted names for the third season. But by the 19th century, ‘fall’ had become an ‘Americanism’: a word primarily used in the United States and one that was frowned upon by British lexicographers.”

I find this very interesting. Harvest is a perfectly good name for fall. It makes since. But, it’s funny we no longer use it. Or is it? The farmers and their community would come out and help them harvest the crops before winter! Considering we don’t really do that anymore it makes since that we don’t say it anymore. But, we do have the beautiful leaves that FALL!

Another question is how long is autumn? Did you know that autumn doesn’t officially end until Dec. 21?! I find that insanely insane… fall is three months in total.

Autumn is fascinating to me. I hope you found these weird and random facts interesting, too! You can email me at, and you can also follow me on all my social medias @H3yImRory. I want to hear from you! Don’t think that you can only email me about the articles — you can talk to me about anything you want. Tell me about your day or your adventure spying on your crazy neighbor! Love you all.

Blue Eyes Out,


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