It’s hot again, up in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s that time of year when the sun shines its most unforgiving beams, baking the ground and, indeed, us. It’s the portion of summer known as the hottest time of the year. Or, more delightfully, the dog days.
Contrary to common conjecture, the dog days do not take their peculiar name from weather that “isn’t fit for a dog,” or heat that is so extreme it drives dogs mad. These folk etymologies shrink in comparison with the actual background of the phrase, a story of astronomical proportions.
The dog days, in the most technical sense, refer to the one- to two-month interval in which a particularly bright star rises and sets with the sun, shining during the daylight hours and staying hidden at night. This star is known by three names: Sirius, the Dog Star, and Alpha Canis Majoris. Apart from being the most prominent star in the constellation Canis Major (Latin for “Greater Dog”), this heavenly body is responsible for the origin of the expression dog days, a phrase that has endured through millennia.
Classicists and astronomers will know the Dog Star as Sirius. The earliest record of this name comes from the Greek poet Hesiod, in Work and Days, written in seventh century BC. Meaning “searing” or “scorching,” Sirius encapsulates the Dog Star’s unusual brightness. Additionally, in Greek mythology Sirius is the name of the dog of Orion (a mythical hunter who has a constellation of his own adjacent to Canis Major), which further reinforces the Dog Star’s historical associations with canines. This tradition continues in the Harry Potter series; Sirius Black’s Animagus form is a large black dog.
The Dog Star’s connection to dogs was not only maintained by constellations and mythology, it was boosted by the fact that dogs seemed to take the brunt of the dog days. They suffered from the heat more intensely than humans seemed to, and were at greater risk of madness.
The English phrase dog days, which entered the language in the 1500s, is a direct translation from the Latin term caniculares dies, which refers to this specific seasonal phenomenon and is modeled after the same term in Hellenistic Greek. It is also from Latin that we got the word canicular, which refers to the Dog Star, as well the precursor to the expression dog days: canicular days.
The Dog Star, being the second brightest star that can be seen with the naked eye, did not escape the attention of ancient astronomers. Nor did its annual disappearance from the night sky and the corresponding influx of heat. Initially, ancient Greeks blamed the Dog Star for the sweltering weather, assuming that its brightness paired with the sun manifested in the hottest days of the year. This belief was debunked in the first-century BC by Greek astronomer Geminus, but the significance of the Dog Star remained untempered.
In ancient times, the dog days would have roughly corresponded to the summer solstice. Due to precession, however, the days have fallen later and later in the year. The exact dates of the dog days depend on your latitude, but by today’s estimation they begin on July 3 and come to a close on August 11.
Humans have been griping about the weather as far back as written history reaches, and the dog days were an important time for all. The Ancient Greeks and Romans, in particular, had grim feelings for Sirius, associating it with an outbreak of insufferable heat and fever. Civilization has long credited the objects in the sky with influence over the earth and its inhabitants; if it’s not the Dog Star cursing you with sultry summer heat and madness it’s the moon driving you to lunacy. It seems you can’t win when it comes to the celestial bodies.
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We originally published this post on July 10, 2010, and revised it in anticipation of the dog days in 2015.
30 Comments
[…] that time of year again, the dog days of summer. For some reason I thought this time was in August, turns out it is actually July 3 to […]
It makes you wonder… Was Sirius Black named for the star? I read an article about how the naming of characters is VERY IMPORTANT as the names will be the ones that people remember.
Meowzer
Hellenistic Greek ?
@traveling shoe:
Depending on where you live, different constellations appear at different times. People in other parts of the world see the same constellations you’re seeing now at a different time of the year.
Whenever I see anything about Sirius the star, I think of Sirius Black…
Hello!
In fact some stars and thus constellations which are visible to people in the Northern hemisphere are never visible to people in the Southern hemisphere. And vice versa. Stars discernible to people in the North are blocked from visibility by the Earth for people in the South, depending on latitude or distance North of the equator. And again vice versa. At the equator nearly all stars should be visible except those overpowered by the sun. And those that line up with the axis of earth’s rotation will not be visible because the Earth intervenes. Those near, but off axis “enough”, will be dimmed by intervening atmosphere. When the sun lines up with a particular constellation, the sun lines up with the same constellation for anyone on earth. In the lands of the “midnight sun” in local summer the sun overpowers the constellation. In local winter the sun does not rise enough to do that for any constellation; but the northern constellations cannot be seen anyway.
To clarify — the northern constellations cannot be seen FROM THE SOUTH POLAR REGION. Nor the southern constellations seen from the North Polar region. [I beg your forgiveness.]
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My personal email name is “siriusone”. I chose it because “Sirius” IS the brightest star in the night sky and I LOVE the night sky! (and I’m bright!) Soooo, I reflect my love of astronomy AND the fact I’m rather scholarly and “serious.” A little double entendre for me!
Off Topic – I love this new part “HOT WORD” of the “Word of the Day” this is fairly new, right(?), bec. I didn’t notice this before. Everytime I read this section, I feel great, I learned a new thing (or got more confused), kudos to the team in-charge. Have a nice day!
hi Hot Word, I really enjoyed reading the article. I actually published a similar article on my website a couple of years ago “Hot Summer Days” …here’s the link if you want to check it out.
http://lovedriven.com/celebrate-the-season/july2008
You can’t see Sirius at night and shake your fist at it during the dog days. That the star rises with the sun and is therefore invisible is what makes these the “dog days of sumnmer.” Isn’t learning that the whole point of this article? What a sloppy ending.
Also, it’s perfectly acceptable to start sentences with ‘and’ and ‘but.’ I wish people would stop clinging to false, uppity rules of grammar, like the stupid kibosh on ending sentences with prepositions. Read your Lynne Truss!
Go shake your dirt somewhere else!
I’m surprised that your blog about the dog days of summer failed to mention the word, canicular, which also refers to this period of time each year.
“Canicular ” is mentioned and explained in paragraph 6!
Funny that you feature a picture of a Pug. From personal experience the Pug is a breed that doesn’t handle high termperatures very well. They over heat VERY EASILY.
I’m pretty sure the dog featured in your “Dog Star” blog, is a “Blue Healer”, part of the cattle dog family. Yes, a lot of them are blue, but over the years, some color has been bred out. They are wonderful animals!
Since this is a dictionary website, may I please correct you. The dog is a “Blue Heeler” though, as many dog owners would attest, they would certainly make you feel better if you were a little blue!
Looks a bit more like the Australian native dog called the dingo.
Actually Sirius appears from January to March in the northern hemisphere. It’s part of the winter triangle. I am sure of this because I can only see Orion’s belt (just above Sirius) during the winter. So during ancient times. Sirius an Orion would appear during the summer, have the position of the stars changed that much?
The word ‘BUT’ is a conjunction in grammar and cannot be used with a capital letter and therefore it cannot be used to begin a sentence. What do we find all the time in the text of a dictionary presentation?, exactly that. It doesn’t bother dogs.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Contrary to what Brian says, I agree with you that proper English grammar still matters, regardless (not irregardless) of how many others choose not to take the trouble to employ it!
Lovely feature for a dog lover
If Sirius rose with the sun, then why would the ancients wait until nightfall to shake their fists at it? So Sirius couldn’t see them…?
I agree!
Hot-digitty-dawg! Break out the beers and briquettes boys! Let’s burble a batch of Buds and burn a bunch of Bratwurst!!
in fact, its roughly 17 degrees celsius. perfect blue sky (from my window, anyway!) little bit of breeze, and absolutely perfect for a picnic in the park!
its not summer – its winter – brrrrrrrrrrrrrr. (in maryborough, qld, australia, that is.) our winter is like some others summer anyway – its not achully that cold. but its still winter!
[...] We’d still lay off the Tar Balls — Unless they’re breaded and fried. — Rousseau licks his own because he can — Ever since Our Music Died. –>>Rupert [...]
As a matter of fact, it was the Dogon tribe that initially discovered this constellation. Look it up.
Constellations are not “discovered.” They’re agreed upon.