Aprilis

Forms

Aprīlis (neuter Aprīle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] As a noun, Aprīlis, -is m., the month of April.^[2][1] Medieval Latin also has Aprilius, -ī m.^[3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][4][5] De Vaan notes that April was the second month of the Roman year and connects it, with hesitation, with ab (“away from”), as *ap(e)rīlis (“the following, the next”), from Proto-Italic *ap(e)ro- and ultimately Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“away from, off”).^[5] This could reflect the same form *ap(e)ri- (“openness”) that he posits for aprīcus (“sunny”).^[5] Neri starts instead from *h₁p-r-, a form of *h₁(e)p(-i) (“toward”).^[5] The ending ⟨-īlis⟩ may follow the month names Quīntīlis and Sextīlis.^[5][6]

The OLD calls the origin doubtful and perhaps Etruscan,^[2] and Wiktionary bases it on Etruscan 𐌖𐌓𐌐𐌀 (apru), a borrowing of Ancient Greek Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodítē, “Venus”).^[1][6]

Ancient scholars gave both explanations: Varro reports that Fulvius and Iunius named the month after Venus, but he himself preferred aperiō (“to open”), because spring opens everything,^[4][2] and Isidore gives both.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Varro, explaining the name of the second month: magis putō dictum, quod vēr omnia aperit, Aprīlem, “I rather think April was so called because spring opens everything”.^[2][5][8]

Semantic evolution

It was first an adjective agreeing with mēnsis, Kalendae, Nōnae or Īdūs: Cicero dates a letter Nōnīs Aprīlibus, “on the Nones of April”.^[2][9] Horace calls the month that of sea-born Venus,^[2] and Ovid uses Aprīlis alone as a noun.^[2][10] Tacitus reports that the month was to take Nero's name.^[2]

The month name lived on in nearly every branch of Romance: DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance */aˈpril-e/, the source of Sardinian apríle, Romanian prier and Italian aprile, and a derivative */aˈpril-i-u/ beside it.^[10] Old English Aprelis and Old High German abrello were taken from it,^[11] and English April came through Old French avril around 1300.^[6]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro explains the name of the month.^[2][5][11]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero dates a letter by the Nones of April.^[2][11]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it as a noun.^[2][10][11]
• c. 1300 – English April appears, through Old French.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of April, the second, later fourth, month of the Roman calendar.^[2][12][9]

Noun

1. The month of April.^{[2][12][13][3]}

Related words

• ab
• aprīcus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua Latina (text of The Latin Library; book and paragraph numbers as there).
9. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ a b c Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
11. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
12. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson