APRIL, is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar. Called Aprilis in the Roman calendar (in which it was the second month), it probably derived its name from the Latin verb aperire (to open), indicating the season of the year when the bud begin to open. Another possible derivation of Aprilis is from aper, the Latin word for “wild boar,” an important animal in early Italian religion and folklore.

4月，在公历中是一年的第4个月。在罗马历法中（是第2个月）被称为Aprilis，它的名称可能源于拉丁语动词aperire（开放），预示一年中花蕾开始开放的季节。Aprilis的另一个派生词可能源自aper，意思是拉丁语单词的“野猪”，一种在早期意大利宗教和民间传说中的重要动物。

There are two other theories of the word’s origin: one is that there was a connection between the Greek aphros (foam), the root word of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, to whom the month was sacred; the other, less tenable, theory is that it comes from the Vedic aparas (following), because as the second month, April follow the first.

该词的起源有另外两种说法：一种说法是希腊语aphros（泡沫）与希腊爱神阿佛洛狄特（Aphrodite）的词根有联系，对于她，该月份是神圣的；另一种不太站得住脚的说法是，它来自吠陀梵语aparas（跟随），因为作为第2个月，4月跟随着1月。

The first day of April is observed by pranksters as April Fool’s Day.

4月的第一天被爱搞恶作剧的人视为愚人节来庆祝。

April is usually a rainy month, and there are countless literary allusions to April showers, including Chaucer’s “Aprille with his shoures soote” and Sara Teasdale’s “April shakes out her rain-drenched hair.” T. S. Eliot called April the “cruelest month.” Because April’s weather is uncertain, the month is a traditional literary symbol for inconstancy.

4月通常是一个多雨的月份，有无数有关4月飞雨的文学引喻，包括乔叟的“当四月温柔的甘霖到来”和莎拉·蒂斯黛尔的“四月抖了抖她被雨淋透了头发”。T. S. 艾略特称4月为“最残酷的月份”。因为，4月的天气变幻莫测，该月是传统文学中反复无常的符号。

The diamond is the birthstone for April.

钻石是4月的诞生石。

See also CALENDAR.

也可参阅日历词条。

                                          2024年2月7日译

（译者注：该词条位列《大美百科全书》1985年版，第2卷，第128页）