It is 4:44 p.m. EDT, Sept. 22 according to our post scheduler and, just as it was back on March 20, the tilt of the Earth’s axis is neither away from or towards the Sun.
In other words, autumn has begun.
“Autumn” comes from the Old French word automne which comes from the Latin word autumnus which possibly comes a Etruscan word.
Before autumn came into popular use in the 16th century to describe the season– as did the word fall as in falling leaves — the English called it Harvest.
When fall was a popular term, immigration to America was picking up and that word was brought to this side of the Atlantic. It became the more common name for this time of year remains so. The term is now obsolete in Britain, however.
The Brits, by the way, consider autumn to be from August to October whereas we consider it from September to November — or December for those of us who are technical minded.