The aim of the article is to further narrow down the accepted date of the redaction and publication of Varro’s De lingua Latina. It is argued that Varro published De lingua Latina in late 45 BC / early 44 BC, when various changes affecting the Roman calendar were in progress. In addition, the author posits that a passage in Censorinus ( De die nat. 22, 9–13) attests to Varro’s altering his views on the etymologies of month names in a subsequent work.

This article aims to look at the Roman interest in the past beyond the context of traditional historiography, focused on the great politics, events and individuals. It suggests that antiquarian writing was not so much a separate literary genre, but rather an alternative model of historical reflection focused on studying the distant past in all its manifestations: everyday life, culture, religion, language or law.