Normally, I wouldn't say that Fall is my favorite season. It leads to freezing temperatures, icy roads, and many layers of clothes. But the reason I love Fall isn't because of my likes, but because of my grandmother. My nuclear family moved to the United States when I was 5 years old. It was just my parents, my brother, and me — we left everyone else back in Mexico.

Many years later, my grandmother came to stay with us. She had come to the U.S. before — after all, we wouldn't be alive if it weren't for her being in the U.S. But she still expressed amazement at certain things that weren't commonplace in Mexico. One of those things was the color-changing leaves in the Fall.

Every time Fall would fall upon us (excuse the pun), she would marvel at the colors. The almost childlike awe she had for the leaves always made me stop and realize that I shouldn't take these things for granted and to truly stop and smell the roses (or leaves, in this case).

So, in honor of my grandmother, here are some cool facts about Autumn/Fall:

Autumn comes from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has connotations of the passing of the year. It was borrowed by the neighbouring Romans, and became the Latin word autumnus. After the Roman era, the word continued to be used as the Old French word autompne (automne in modern French) or autumpne in Middle English, and was later normalized to the original Latin.

The alternative word fall for the season traces its origins to old Germanic languages. While the exact origin isn't clear, there's the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall, so they're possible candidates. However, these words all have the meaning "to fall from a height" and are clearly taken either from a common root or from each other. The term came to denote the season in 16th century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year".

When the British came to the American colonies back in the 1600s, they brought these terms with them. While the term "fall" is very rare in British English, it became increasingly popular in American English.

** Bonus fact: Autumn/Fall used to be called "Backend" in Northern England.