Autumn was the last season to be given a name. The first one was winter, the most dreadful of them all.

The first word to describe the third season of the year was “harvest”, due to the season’s most common activity. Around the 12th century, English borrowed from its old, faithful pal, Latin, creating the English derivation of the original “autumnus”. Within a few centuries, harvest was ousted by autumn.

It wasn’t until the 16th century that the word “fall” came into play regarding the season. Though its beginnings are unclear, a few theories suggest it as a contraction of “fall of the leaf”, an English saying, or as a counterpart to spring.

The timing of the name “fall” allowed it to be carried along to what would eventually become the United States of America, where its use flourished in tandem with autumn, unlike in England, where it never quite stuck.