Ten Facts You Didn't Know About the Month of April

April Is Named for Aphrodite

April is named after the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. In the Roman calendar, the fourth month April is spelled Aprilis, meaning "to open." Festivals which were planned for April included Parrilla, a day celebrating the founding of Rome.

The name Aprilis, then, fits April, because in so many places in the northern hemisphere April is the month when trees and flowers begin to bloom and go on to flower.

April's Zodiac Signs Are Four-Legged Hooved Creatures

Two signs in the traditional Zodiac calendar fall in April, both of which are domestic animals, quadrupeds with cloven hoofs. People born in the first part of the month between March 21st and April 19th are said to be born under the sign of Aries the Ram, a Sun sign which is ruled by the planet and the Roman god of War, Mars. Those born from April 20th to May 20th are born under Taurus the Bull, an Earth sign who is ruled by the planet and the Roman goddess of love, Venus. No wonder people born on the cusp (between April 19th and 20th) are just confused.

April's Honorary Flowers Are Daisies and Sweet Peas

Two flowers signify the month of April: the daisy and the sweet pea. The daisy symbolizes innocence, loyal love, and purity; but it also means "I'll never tell!" The oldest daisy on record is the Bellis perennis, known as Daeges eage (or Day's eye) in the Middle Ages because its petals close at night to cover the yellow center.

Today there are more than 90 varieties of flowers that are called daisies, and they come in red, yellow, purple, orange, blue, and pink colored petals, and vary widely in size. But they are, as director/writer Nora Ephron once wrote, "the friendliest flower."

The sweat pea signifies blissful pleasure, and are used to say goodbye. Sweet peas may be a pretty flower, but they are also one of the oldest food crops on our planet, domesticated by humans about 11,000 years ago.

The Diamond Is April's Birth Stone

The birthstone for people born in April is the diamond, one of the hardest substances on earth, and one that formed deep in the earth, even if we don't know how long ago that happened. The word diamond comes from the early Greek word adamas, meaning untamable and related to our word adamant. That's because the Greeks knew a tough customer when they saw one. Among the earliest historical mentions of diamonds is found in the book of Exodus, where diamond (jahalom in Hebrew) is mentioned as one of twelve engraved precious stones set in the breastplate of the high priest.

Diamonds are said to bring all kinds of benefits to their owners, supposedly leading the wearer to experience better relationships and an increase in inner strength. They are supposed to bring balance, clarity, and abundance, and it is symbolic of eternal love and the bringer of wealth to six centuries of the diamond trade.

Poet William Wordsworth Was Born in April

The English poet William Wordsworth was born April 7, 1770, and one of his best-known poems is perfect for April in the northern hemisphere: "I wandered lonely as a cloud," which he first published in 1807. Here's a little snippet for an April day:

• I wandered lonely as a cloud
• That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
• When all at once I saw a crowd,
• A host, of golden daffodils;
• Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
• Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Noah Webster Copyrighted the First Edition of His Dictionary in April

The famous language expert Noah Webster was a bit of an April fool: one of his dearest wishes was to reform English spelling for Americans, to make it simpler and more obvious. While millions of school children could go for that; Webster's proposals included removing all double vowels. Bread would be spelled bred; friend would become frend; tuf for tuf, laf for laugh, kee for key, and speek for speak. He also wanted us to spell machine masheen, and pique peek.

His successes included changing plough for plow and draught for draft; but if you're a poor speller, you might just peek your frends and attribute that to your fondness for April's Noah Webster.

Leonardo da Vinci Was Born in April

What can you possibly say about Leonardo in 100 words? He was a painter, a scientist who painted many pieces of religious art; he was fascinated by the flight of birds and the mechanisms of guns. He was a Renaissance genius for his and any other time, capable of turning his hand to anything. And he was born in April.

William Shakespeare Was Born and Died in April

The Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare was another April genius, born on April 23, 1564, and died on or about his April birthday at the age of 52 in England in 1616. He may have stolen whole plots and plot twists from his fellow playwrights and ancient history, but his prose and poetic output is unmatched for originality and complexity. William Shakespeare is still rightly revered today.

Adolf Hitler Was Born in April

Just in case you thought that only marvelously talented people and gifted people were born in April, Adolf Hitler, surely one of the most depraved leaders ever, was born in Austria on April 20th, 1889. His brand of crazy involved world domination and extreme mass murder that makes you wish there were a better word than "mass murder." Maybe it was that "cusp" thing.

A Snippet of a Poem for April by Sara Teasdale

 There are so many different poems written for April that it's hard to pick. Here's one from Sara Teasdale, called April Song.  

Willow, in your April gown
Delicate and gleaming,
Do you mind in years gone by
All my dreaming?
Spring was like a call to me
That I could not answer,
I was chained to loneliness,
I, the dancer.
Willow, twinkling in the sun,
Still your leaves and hear me,
I can answer spring at last,
Love is near me!