'BEWARE the Ides of March" is a well-known warning of impending doom or danger. It became known throughout the educated world because Shakespeare incorporated these words into a warning given to Julius Caesar before his assassination. In his case, the Ides of March were the 15th, which is today.

The name comes to us from the ancient Roman calendar when ides was the name given to the 15th day of certain months, i.e. March, May, July and October. For all the other months, the ides fell on the 13th, but in all cases the ides were eight days after the nones.

The nones are therefore the ninth day before the ides, by inclusive reckoning, and the term was also given to certain prayers of the Catholic Church which were originally said nine hours after sunrise, i.e. between noon and 3pm.

So far as I can tell, no British saints' days are celebrated on March 15, although it is the feast of St Clement of Hofbauer, a Czech by birth who died in 1820. He became a Catholic priest and was canonised as recently as 1909 for his stand over state control of the Church. Another saint honoured today is St Louise de Marillac, a French woman who founded the Daughters of Charity, of whom it was said: "Their convent was the sick room." She was renowned for her works of charity and she died in Paris in 1660.

March 15 is also known as the birthday of Adolf Hitler, reputedly the only national leader, to date, to successfully ban fox-hunting.

DOWN the centuries, March has been renowned for its winds and stormy moods. Even in Anglo-Saxon times, it was called the rough month, one name being Hreth-monath and another Hlydmonath, each referring to the unsettled, windy and tempestuous nature of this period.

Generally, those winds were regarded as beneficial because they dried the land after it had been saturated by the snows of January and the rains of February. The mud was turned into fine dust and most of us have heard the saying that "A peck of March dust is worth a king's ransom", in other words, nature's method of preparing the ground is most important. There are other versions of this, such as "A peck of March dust is worth an earl's ransom" or "A peck of March dust on an apple leaf brings all kinds of fruit to grief" - i.e. it's not a good thing if the apple leaves appear too early in the year. It was also said that a dry windy March meant full barns and excellent crops later in the year.

For those of us unfamiliar with the term "peck" it was a capacity measure used especially for dry goods such as peas or rice, and it was the equivalent of two gallons or eight quarts - quite a large amount. Many of us have heard the term, "a bushel and a peck". A bushel was another such measure, being equal to four pecks, and a quarter comprised eight bushels. These are now measured in litres and hectolitres, but a peck of dust was much more than a mere speck!

SO far as the wind is concerned, however, it has attracted a good deal of lore although most of it tends to be more of a descriptive or advisory nature than prophetic, and a good deal of it relates to the sea. There is a wonderful old verse which provides advice to those sailing in stormy weather. For example, it begins: "With an east wind changing to southward, heave to on the starboard tack; with an east wind changing to northward, run west north-west or heave to on the port tack," and so on.

Even on land, however, the wind has always commanded respect and this has inevitably led to folk stories. There is one tale about a Scottish king nicknamed Windy Cap whose real name was, I am told, Eric. His nickname was earned because it was claimed he could change the direction of the wind simply by turning the cap on his head. I rather suspect it was the wind which changed his cap, but history might never support that!

Likewise, there was a wise woman in Scotland who, for a small financial consideration, would promise to make the wind come from a certain direction, and there was also a Scottish fairy who reckoned she could control the wind by waving her wand in the air.

I like another tale about two eminent gentlemen from the North-East who were walking on the hills in very windy weather. They came across a shepherd working on the heights and during their conversation, they grumbled about the brisk keenness of the wind. His wise reply was: "Well, it dries the soil, slockens the ewes, and it's God's will." Slockens, by the way, is a dialect word which means to quench the thirst.

One old saying tells us that "Every wind has its weather", and there are quite a lot of sayings which are attempts at forecasting. Here is just a small selection: If the wind increases during a rain, fair weather may be expected soon; a brisk wind generally precedes rain; wind roaring in the chimney, rain to come; winds at night are always bright but winds in the morning - sailors take warning; it is a sign of continued fine weather when the wind changes during the day to follow the sun; showers generally allay the winds, especially if they be stormy, as on the other hand, winds often keep off rain; and finally, if the wind follows the sun's course, expect fair weather.

Perhaps the wisest advice is very simple indeed - if the wind's in the north, you mustn't go forth, although some ancients reckoned a north wind generated a good appetite and made people cheerful!

FOLLOWING my notes about the puzzle concerning the derivation of the Swaledale name of Carkin, I have received an interesting letter from a Northallerton reader who offers a logical solution. He provides me with words in other ancient tongues which might have a bearing on Carkin's name; they are carrecc, which is an Old Welsh word, carreg which is Welsh, and carric, which is from the Old Irish. All these names mean rock.

He reminds us that some of the invading Vikings came from Ireland into Northern England and it is therefore feasible that they introduced this name to our region. He adds that previous names for Carkin included Kerrecan and Karcan.

My own sources show that Carkin was once called Kerkhan or Kirkan, becoming Carken in the early sixteenth century and Carkyn a few years later. I thank my correspondent for his letter.

CONTINUING the theme of place names, one which I have not heard in use for many years is weeks. It might have been used in the good old days when spring cleaning was such an important annual ritual in rural homes, for the woman of the house might have said: "It's tahme Ah gat t'weeks cleeaned oot."

Weeks is an old name for corners. So far as I can ascertain, it might refer to corners in the house or some other building, but it could also mean the corners of one's mouth or eyes.

There is a theory, supported by the Rev M C F Morris in his famous book Yorkshire Folk Talk, which was published in 1892, that the term weeks comes from Scandinavian sources, i.e. vik. Viks or vigs were the corners and creeks along the coastline of Scandinavian countries and, of course, it was this which gave the name Viking to the Norse invaders.

His theory is that the pronunciation of Viking should really be Veeking, and that the English would naturally substitute a w for that v, the name Viking or Veeking thus becoming Weeking.

My knowledge of the Scandinavian tongues is very slight indeed but, thanks to a generous correspondent in Voss, Norway, I do have a winter holiday brochure in which our word winter is shown as vinter in Norwegian.

And it may be significant that our term for a small coastal bay is wyke or wick, which appears in names like Runswick or Hayburn Wyke.