Anniversary Totally Explained

Everything about Anniversary totally explained

An anniversary (from the Latin anniversarius, from the words for year and to turn, meaning (re)turning yearly; known in English since c. 1230) is a day that commemorates and/or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year as the initial event. For example, the first event is the initial occurrence or, if planned, the inaugural of the event. One year later would be the first anniversary of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints.

Anniversary names

Birthdays (v.) are the most common type of anniversary, where the birth date of a person is commemorated annually. The actual celebration is sometimes moved for practical reasons, as in the case of an official birthday.
Wedding anniversaries are also often celebrated on the same day of the year as the wedding occurred.
Death anniversary The Latin phrase dies natalis (literally birth day) has become a common term, adopted in many languages, especially in intellectual and institutional circles, for the anniversary of the founding ('legal or statutory birth') of an institution, such as an alma mater (college or other school). Even in ancient Rome, we know of the [dies] Aquilae natalis ('birthday of the eagle', anniversary of the official founding of a legion).

Most countries around the world celebrate national anniversaries, for example the United States Bicentennial. These could be the date of independence of the nation or the adoption of a new constitution or form of government. The important dates in a sitting monarch's reign may also be commemorated.
Anniversaries of nations are usually marked by the number of years elapsed described Latin words or Roman numerals.

Latin-derived numerical names

The root elements of each word are literally multiplied together to create the anniversary name. For example, the word sesquicentennial (an anniversary of 150 years) is broken down as sesqui- (1½) x centennial (100 years). Sometimes new anniversary names are coined incorrectly by adding the root elements rather than multiplying them, with unfortunate results.

Annual - 1 year

Biennial - 2 years

Triennial - 3 years

Quadrennial - 4 years

Quinquennial - 5 years

Sexennial - 6 years

Septennial - 7 years

Octennial - 8 years

Novennial - 9 years

Decennial - 10 years

Undecennial - 11 years

Duodecennial - 12 years

Tredecennial - 13 years

Quattuordecennial - 14 years

Quindecennial - 15 years

Vigintennial or vicennial - 20 years

Semicentennial or quinquagenary - 50 years

Semisesquicentennial - 75 years

Variations: Demisesquicentennial or hemisesquicentennial

Centennial - 100 years

Quasquicentennial - 125 years

Sesquicentennial - 150 years

Demisemiseptcentennial or quartoseptcentennial - 175 years

Note: Terquasquicentennial is a coined word for an anniversary of 175 years, but the elements of the word literally refer to an anniversary of 375 years, as follows: ter- (3) x quasqui- (1¼) x centennial (100 years)
Note: Septaquintaquinquecentennial is a coined word for an anniversary of 175 years, but the elements of the word literally refer to an anniversary of 35,000 years, as follows: septaquinta- (70) x quinque- (5) x centennial (100 years)

Bicentennial - 200 years

Semiquincentennial - 250 years

Tercentennial or tricentennial - 300 years

Semiseptcentennial - 350 years

Quadricentennial or quatercentenary- 400 years

Quincentennial - 500 years

Sexcentennial - 600 years

Septcentennial or septuacentennial - 700 years

Octocentennial - 800 years

Nonacentennial - 900 years

Millennial - 1000 years

Bimillennial - 2000 years

Anniversary symbols

Many anniversaries have special names. Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home by Emily Post, published in 1922, contained suggestions for wedding anniversary gifts for 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 and 75 years. Wedding anniversary gift suggestions for other years were added in later editions and publications; they now comprise what is referred to as the "traditional" list. Generally speaking, the longer the period, the more precious and/or durable the material associated with it. See wedding anniversary for a general list of the wedding anniversary symbols, however there are variations in some national traditions.
Furthermore, there exist numerous partially overlapping, partially contradictory lists of anniversary gifts (such as wedding stones), separate from the 'traditional' names.
The concepts of a person's birthday stone, birth stone and zodiac stone, by contrast, are fixed for life according to the day of the week, month or astrological sign corresponding to the recipient's birthday.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Anniversary'.

External Link Exchanges

Anniversary gift and present ideas

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://anniversary.totallyexplained.com">Anniversary Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.