Why Do We Call the Seasons Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter?
为什么我们把四季称为春天（Spring）、夏天（Summer）、秋天（Fall）和冬天（Winter）呢？
There's something to enjoy about every season. Here are the origins of the official titles of the four seasons.
每个季节都有值得享受之处。以下是这四个季节正式名称的由来。
The Origins of Spring
春天（Spring）的由来
Before spring was called spring, it was called Lent in Old English. Beginning in the 14th century, that time of year was called "springing time"—a reference to plants "springing" from the ground. In the 15th century this got shortened to spring - time, and then further shortened in the 16th century to simply spring.
在春天被称为“spring”之前，在古英语中它被叫做“Lent”。从14世纪开始，一年中的这个时节被称为“springing time”，指的是植物从地面“破土而出”。15世纪时，这个词被缩短为“spring - time”，到了16世纪，进一步简称为“spring”。
The Origins of Summer
夏天（Summer）的由来
Summer came from the Old English name for that time of year, sumor. This, in turn, came from the Proto - Germanic sumur -, which itself came from the Proto - Indo - European root sam -. Sam - seems to be a variant of the Proto - Indo - European sem -, meaning "together/one."
“Summer”这个词源于古英语中对一年中这个时节的称呼“sumor”。而“sumor”又源自原始日耳曼语“sumur -”，其本身来自原始印欧语词根“sam -”。“sam -”似乎是原始印欧语“sem -”的变体，意思是“一起/一”。
The Origins of Fall
秋天（Fall）的由来
The origin of fall as a name for a season isn't perfectly clear, though it's thought that it probably came from the idea of leaves falling from trees (particularly the contraction of the English saying "fall of the leaf"). It first popped up as a name for a season in late 16th century England and became particularly popular during the 17th century, at which point it made its way over to North America. Autumn, meanwhile, came to English via the Old French autompne, from the Latin autumnus. From here, things get murky, but it's thought autumnus probably came from an Etruscan word and is possibly related to the Latin augere, meaning "to increase."
“Fall”作为秋天这个季节的名称，其起源并不完全明确，不过人们认为它很可能源于树叶从树上落下这一概念（尤其是英语短语“fall of the leaf”的缩写）。16世纪后期，它首次在英格兰作为季节名称出现，并在17世纪特别流行，那时它传播到了北美。与此同时，“Autumn”这个词通过古法语“autompne”进入英语，而“autompne”源自拉丁语“autumnus”。从这里开始，情况变得模糊起来，但人们认为“autumnus”可能来自一个伊特鲁里亚语单词，并且可能与拉丁语“augere”有关，“augere”的意思是“增加”。
Calling the season autumn first occurred in English in the 12th century, though was a rarity until around the 14th century. It then began to pick up steam and became common in the 16th century—about the same time fall popped up as the name for the season. Before the season was autumn or fall in English, though, it was called "harvest."
在英语中，用“autumn”称呼这个季节最早出现在12世纪，但直到14世纪左右才开始普遍使用。然后它开始流行起来，在16世纪变得常见，大约在同一时期，“fall”也作为这个季节的名称出现。不过，在英语中这个季节被称为“autumn”或“fall”之前，它被叫做“harvest”（收获）。
The Origins of Winter
冬天（Winter）的由来
Winter, meanwhile, derives from the Proto - Germanic wentruz. This, in turn, probably comes from the Proto - Indo - European wed, meaning "wet," or wind -, meaning "white." Either way, the Proto - Germanic wentruz gave rise to the Old English winter as the fourth season of the year, and the name for the season has stuck around ever since.
“Winter”这个词源自原始日耳曼语“wentruz”。而“wentruz”反过来可能来自原始印欧语“wed”，意思是“潮湿的”，或者“wind -”，意思是“白色的”。不管怎样，原始日耳曼语“wentruz”衍生出了古英语“winter”，成为一年中的第四个季节，从那以后，这个季节的名称就一直沿用至今。
Incidentally, you may also wonder why the seasons are called seasons. The word season in this context comes from the Old French seison, meaning "sowing/planting." This in turn came from the Latin sationem, meaning "sowing." Initially, this referred to actually sowing seeds, but later, as with the Old French seison, it shifted definition to refer to the time period when you sow seeds, so literally "seed - time." Season in this sense in English popped up around the 13th century. It was also around this time that season was first used to refer to seasoning food—in this case from the Old French assaisoner, meaning "to ripen."
顺便说一下，你可能还想知道为什么这些季节被称为“seasons”。在这种语境下，“season”这个词来自古法语“seison”，意思是“播种/种植”。而“seison”又源自拉丁语“sationem”，意思也是“播种”。最初，它指的是实际播种种子的行为，但后来，就像古法语“seison”一样，它的定义转变为指播种种子的时间段，所以从字面上理解就是“播种时节”。英语中“season”在这个意义上大约在13世纪出现。大约也是在这个时候，“season”首次被用来表示给食物调味，在这种情况下，它来自古法语“assaisoner”，意思是“使成熟”。
翻译：豆包
整理：2025年2月2日于经典龙苑