aestas, ātis, f. [akin to αἴθω = to burn, Varr. L. L. 6, § 9; cf.: aestus, aether, aethra; Sanscr. indh = to kindle, iddhas = kindled; O. H. Germ. eiten = to heat; Germ. Hitze = heat], in an extended sense,
I the summer season , as one half of the year , from March twenty-second to September twenty-second (the other half was hiems , the winter season); cf. Dig. 43, 19: aestas et hiems, nox et dies, Vulg. Gen. 8, 22: in a restricted sense, the summer , the three months from the entrance of the sun into Cancer to the autumnal equinox (the entrance into Libra): Arabes campos et montes hieme et aestate peragrantes, Cic. Div. 1, 42: (formica) parat in aestate cibum sibi, Vulg. Prov. 6, 8: aestate ineunte, at the beginning of summer , Cic. Att. 4, 2: nova, Verg. A. 1, 430: media, midsummer , Cic. Imp. Pomp. 12, 35: jam adulta, Tac. A. 2, 23; so Aur. Vict. Caes. 32, 3 Arntz.: summa, the height of summer , Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 31: exacta, Sall. J. 65: finita, Vulg. Jer. 8, 20: cum affecta jam prope aestate uvas a sole mitescere tempus est, Cic. Oecon. ap. Non. 161, 2.— With anni, summer-time , Gell. 2, 21: aestate anni flagrantissima, id. 19, 5.—Since war among the ancients was carried on only in summer, aestas is sometimes (like θέρος in Gr.) used by the histt. for,
II A year , Vell. 2, 47; 82: quae duabus aestatibus gesta, Tac. A. 6, 39; so, te jam septuma portat omnibus errantem terris aestas, Verg. A. 1, 756.—
B Summer air : per aestatem liquidam, Verg. G. 4, 59; id. A. 6, 707.—
C Summer heat : ignea, Hor. C. 1, 17, 3.— *
D Freckles as caused by heat: aestates, Plin. 28, 12, 50, § 185, where Jan. reads testas.