The season of rebirth has gone by many names, including “Lent” (according to the Church calendar) and “prime-temps” (based on the French printemps), but it was the “spring of the year,” that caught on in the 1500s.
New flowers spring from the earth; green leaves spring forth upon the trees; bugs spring at you when you take a walk through the grass…
No, wait. I don’t think that last one has anything to do with this etymology story. I think I’m just distracted by the year’s first mosquito bite. Sigh.
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