Wherefore art thou, aberil?

[R. Sale]

The question is two-fold. Where is the word 'aberil' found and wherefore, for what reason, was it used to name the month of April, twice in the VMs Zodiac sequence? 

Where is it found? Nothing relevant on Google.

'Aberil' is apparently one of several variant words that are found in various languages. April is usually found on a calendar and the "ebooks" reference contains a number of liturgical calendars, which can be sorted by language groups. In the German group, the overwhelming preference is for "Aprilis" [Latin] or an abbreviation. In the French language group, the preference is for "Avril".

The only other viable alternative so far is the Germanic-group use of "Abrell" in 1540 Appenzell.

In a ninja search, back in 2019, Anton posted a reference that connects "Aberil" with the Swiss canton of Glarus - with no further info.

Is there more on this?

[oshfdk]

Probably this has been settled a long time ago, but still I'd like to understand why the third letter is read as "e" and not something else. This looks to me more like an i with some strange mark over it (something like ĩ or ǐ of sorts). But this is certainly not my area of expertise.

   

The above are from the MSIs.

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[oshfdk]

The tiny mark over the left ab*ril looks a bit like an h. Interestingly, one of the few hits for "abhril" is a 1840 English book on pronunciations. It explains the pronunciation of the French avril as "abh-ril". Given that most month names in the VMS are in what appears to be non standard spelling for mainstream European languages of the past, what's the chance that someone just tried to represent the sounds of month names from a foreign language?

   

The book itself: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

[nablator]

Probably this has been settled a long time ago, but still I'd like to understand why the third letter is read as "e" and not something else.

I found an example of "e" written like this (15th century) with a detached "s" shape. The curvature is not as extreme as the "h" shape of aberil but other months such as decembre have shapes between "h" and "s". The discussion starts here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

The "s" shape is common in some spiky variants of Cursiva and Bastarda, but it is usually connected to the "c" shape under it.

[Aga Tentakulus]

   

We have already discussed this somewhere.
Based on the examples, one can cover the entire eastern Alpine region (Switzerland).
I am limited in my search across borders. However, I also see possibilities as far as the County of Gorizia.

[nablator]

In the French language group, the preference is for "Avril".

Sometimes "averil".

A letter of Louis XI dated 1469:
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[R. Sale]

As to the identity of the third letter, I defer to nablator and the thread listed.

In the various texts You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., it can be seen that the letter "e" is often composed of two parts, an upright "c" shape, and a secondary stroke in the upper right area. This secondary stroke is meant to be a part of the letter, but with certain writers, it varies in form and may not be connected.

The reference in Post #5 appears to be the same as the one cited by Anton in the 2019 post.

The "Avril" listings I found are only from the liturgical calendars that showed up in the e-codices under French Languages.

"Averil" is close, but "aberil'" is hard to find. Is there an example of "aberil" being used in a VMs-contemporary text?

[MarcoP]

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., there are sources connecting  “Aberil” with the Swiss canton of Glarus.

See also You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

The best approach to find actual documents is probably a search for notary documents from Glarus. Those documents are always dated and include a location. Of course it’s a tedious and time-consuming job.

[Koen G]

In those same comments, Diane refers to a message from Dana Scott on the mailing list. Do we still have access to those?

[ReneZ]

Depends a bit how long it was before 2012. Some people may have saved them but I do not have them.

Dana Scott recently referred members of the Vms list to a very interesting image from a French manuscript which, in turn, had many points in common with a small group of Regensberg/Salzburg ms – and the Vms

Dana may remember...