Dog Days

In Homer's Iliad (circa 8 BCE) he wrote:

Priam saw him first, with his old man's eyes,

A single point of light on Troy's dusty plain.

Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky

On summer nights, star of stars,

Orion's Dog they call it, brightest

Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat

And fevers to suffering humanity.

Achilles' bronze gleamed like this as he ran.

Orion's Dog... bringing heat. This is one of the earliest written references. It was in 7 BCE, Greek poet Hesiod, in 'Work and Days', used the phrase to mean  “searing” or “scorching”.

The dog days of summer is the period when it is so hot you want to so little but sit in a cool breeze, sip and iced drink, and dream of future times.

The phrase 'dog days' entered English in the 1500s. It is a direct translation from the Latin term 'caniculares dies', which refers to this specific seasonal phenomenon and is modelled after the same term in Greek.