'In den April schicken' - earliest German attestation

1618

The German idiom 'jemanden in den April schicken' ('to send someone into April') is first recorded in Bavaria in 1618, and in the rest of Germany from 1631. The noun 'Aprilscherz' only came into regular use in the second half of the 19th century. A recurring annual custom. The frequently repeated story that the custom began with a failed currency reform at the 1530 Augsburg Reichstag is explicitly classed as an unsecured explanation.