Historical names for January include its original Roman designation, Ianuarius, the [[Saxon people|Saxon]] term Wulf-monath (meaning wolf month) and [[Charlemagne]]'s designation Wintarmanoth (winter / cold month).
== Other names ==
In [[Finnish language|Finnish]], the month is called ''tammikuu'', meaning ''month of the oak'', but the original meaning was ''the month of the heart of winter'', as ''tammi'' has initially meant ''axis'' or ''core''.
In [[Czech language|Czech]] this month is called ''leden'', meaning ''ice month''
In [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] it is ''січень'' meaning ''cutting or slicing'' perhaps referring to the wind.
According to [[Theodor Mommsen]] (The History of Rome, volume 4, The Revolution, ISBN 1-4353-4597-5, page 4), the 1st of January became the first day of the year in 600 [[Ab urbe condita|AUC]] of the Roman Calendar (153 BC), due to disasters in the [[Lusitanian War]]. A Lusitanian chief called Punicus, invaded the Roman territory, defeated two Roman governors and slew their troops. The Romans resolved to send a consul to Spain and, in order to accelerate the despatch of aid, "they even made the new consuls enter on office two months and a half before the legal time" (15th of March).
