Editing Mercedonius (section)

{{Short description|Intercalary month of the Roman calendar}}
'''Mercedonius''' ([[Latin language|Latin]] for "Work Month"),<ref>{{citation |author=[[Plutarch]] |title=Life of Caesar |at=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg048.perseus-eng1:59.2 lix, 2] }}.</ref><ref name=mom14>{{citation |last=Mommsen |first=Theodor |title=The History of Rome, ''Vol. I'' |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10701/pg10701-images.html |editor-last=Dickson |editor-first=William Purdie |authorlink=Theodor Mommsen |date=1894 |at=Ch. xiv }}.</ref>{{efn|All Roman month names began as adjectives modifying the explicit or implicit word "month" ({{langx|la|mensis}}) before beginning to be treated as nouns in their own right. {{lang|la|Mercedonius}} seems to derive from {{lang|la|merces}}, meaning "wages".}} also known as '''Mercedinus''',<ref>{{citation |author=[[Plutarch]] |title=Life of Numa |at=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg005.perseus-eng1:18.2 xviii, 2] }}.</ref> '''Interkalaris'''<ref>''[[Fasti Triumphales]]''.</ref> or '''Intercalaris''' ({{langx|la|mensis intercalaris}}), was the [[intercalary month]] of the [[Roman calendar]]. The resulting [[leap year]] was either 377 or 378 days long. It theoretically occurred every two (or occasionally three) years, but was sometimes avoided or employed by the [[college of Pontiffs|Roman pontiffs]] for political reasons regardless of the state of the solar year. Mercedonius was eliminated by [[Julius Caesar]] when he introduced the [[Julian calendar]] in 45 BC.