Winter

It feels like Winter where I live. We've had quite a bit of rain and even a little snow. (Of course we're hoping for a lot more to end the drought in California.)

But, according to the calendars,  Winter won't actually begin until December 22nd.

My etymological dictionary, says the word, winter, is related to the words for wet, and water. In the Northern Hemisphere that's certainly appropriate.

But what about people who live down under in places like Australia or Brazil.  Do they still call this time of year Winter?

It seems like they should have opposite terms for the seasons since their climate is opposite of ours in the Northern Hemisphere.

I guess since people from Europe settled into those continents hundreds of years ago those people kept the languages and terms they were used to. But what did (or do) the original peoples in those areas call the seasons?

Anybody know?