Jonny Jones, age 11, of Tulsa, Okla., for his question:

How did the seasons get their names?

The seasons, of course, were noted and named at the dawn of history. Even in earliest times people in all lands took it for granted that spring is the first of the four seasons of the year. Our name for the first season is borrowed from an ancient word for a bubbling spring or source of water. It seems a suitable name for the season in which new life springs forth to reclothe and repopulate the world.

The word summer was taken from a much older word meaning the half way season of the year. Autumn was named for the Latin word for the season between summer and winter. We are not sure of its original meaning. We call this the fall season because it is the time when leaves fall from the trees. Winter was named from an old, old word that meant the wet and rainy season.