<P> The dog days or dog days of summer are the hot, sultry days of summer . They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star Sirius, which Greek and Roman astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck . They are now taken to be the hottest, most uncomfortable part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere . </P> <P> The English name is a calque of the Latin dies caniculares (lit . "the puppy days"), itself a calque of the Greek kynádes hēmérai (κυνάδες ἡμέραι, "dog days"). The Greeks knew the star α Canis Majoris by several names, including Sirius (Σείριος, Seírios, "Scorcher"), Sothis (Σῶθις, Sôthis, a transcription of Egyptian Spdt), and the Dog Star (Κῠ́ων, Kúōn). The last name reflects the way Sirius follows the constellation Orion into the night sky . </P> <P> Sirius is by far the brightest proper star in the night sky, which caused ancient astronomers to take note of it around the world . In Egypt, its return to the night sky became known as a precursor to the annual flooding of the Nile and was worshipped as the goddess Sopdet . In Greece, it became known as the precursor of the unpleasantly hot phase of the summer . Greek poets even recorded the belief that the return of the bright star was responsible for bringing heat and fever with it; it was also associated with sudden thunderstorms . In Homer's Iliad, probably composed in the 8th century BC but representing an earlier tradition, Achilles' approach towards Troy, where he will slay Hector, is illustrated through an extended metaphor about the baleful effects attending the return of Sirius: </P>

Origin of the term dog days of summer
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