Why we call it autumn when Americans call it fall – and which word came first

Are we, or our relatives across the Atlantic using this word correctly?

These differences can be seen through writing and how we pronounce words, and of course in how distinct the accents differ. 

But you might have wondered at times, especially this time around the year, why we call the coming season Autumn, while Americans call it Fall.

Now we’ve all heard that Americans are wrong or a bit ‘dull’ for calling it Fall because: howdy hoo, looky here the leaves are fallin’.

However, this feeling might just be a UK sentiment towards our relatives across the pond.

First of all, which came first?

The short answer: Autumn. The word ‘Autumn’ came first as an English name for the season. 

The word is derived from Latin’s ‘autumnus’, which was taken by Old French as ‘autumpne’ or ‘automne’, and finally reached the isles as the word we know today, ‘Autumne’. 

Fall on the other hand is, actually, very literal in defining the fall of the leaf or the fall of the year. 

However, neither of these are the original words to describe the season. 

As you can tell, Autumn, which came first, isn’t even derived from English to begin with.

Ethymologically speaking, the one that came first was hærfest, meaning harvest, and was used to describe the season as a whole since most crops were collected between Summer heats and frozen Winters.

Additionally, the term Fall was never an exclusively American word, as it was first used in England.

Why the Atlantic split happened

Both words were originally transported to North America as migrants fled to the new world, where Fall remained productive while Autumn increasingly settled in Britain.

Ironically, Americans aren’t using a uniquely American invention, but preserving an older English usage that disappeared in its homeland. 

The same can be said about the accents, but this time the other way around. 

You might be surprised to find out that the US accent isn’t also an exclusively American invention. 

Southern accents that can be found in Georgia, the Carolinas and Mississippi are actually closer to what Britons used to sound like.

The shift actually occurred in both the UK, drawing closer to an Essex accent, and the US, to a more standardised and neutral accent in the north of the country.

Of course that doesn't take into account the Scouse or Manchunian accents…