Beware the Ides of March

Every March 15th we say this.  This morning I was wondering... what exactly does Ides mean?  What is an Ide?  Or is the singular Ides?  I think it means something like mid or middle... Inquiring minds want to know.

So I looked it up.  Google is always a good friend when I'm curious about something.

According to Dictionary.com, Ides comes from the Latin word idus, roughly marking the 15th day of March, July & October and the 13th day of the other months of the year.  It's the halfway point of each month.  

The Ides of March is a metaphor for impending doom.  Julius Caeser ignored the warning "Beware the Ides of March" and was stabbed in the back on March 15, 44 BC - also giving us the term backstabber.

This is just my summarized version, use the link above to read the full explanation.


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