April 1, 2024

April

Middle English April “April,” from early French avrill and Latin APRILIS

The name was given to the month by the ancient Romans. No one knows for certain why the Romans named it as they did. Some Roman authors, and my high school Latin teacher thought that Aprilis was related to the Latin verb aperire meaning “to open” because April “opened” the buds of leaves and flowers, and where we get the medical word ‘aperient’ which means a laxative.

Another theory is that the name was based on Apru, an Etruscan form of the name of the Greek goddess Aphrodite.