Etymologically
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Persicus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɛr.sɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛr.si.kus][1]

Forms

Persicus (feminine Persica, neuter Persicum, adverb Persicē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek Περσικός (Persikós, “Persian”), from Πέρσης (Pérsēs, “a Persian”) and the adjective suffix -ικός (-ikós).[1][2] In Latin it goes with Persae (“the Persians”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it in the Amphitruo in the name of a harbour, portus Persicus, apparently on the Euboean strait.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

From Catullus on it means Persian in general, of customs, dress and kingdoms,[3] and the Persian Gulf was sinus Persicus or mare Persicum.[3] In the Mithraic mysteries the fifth grade of initiation was called gradus Persicus.[3]

It named plants and fruits from the East: malum Persicum was the peach and arbor Persica the peach tree,[3] which became the nouns persicum and persica;[3] the feminine persicus alone also meant the peach tree in Columella.[3] Pliny the Elder uses it of a fine kind of walnut,[3] and Medieval Latin had a noun persicus for a dark blue cloth.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus names a portus Persicus.[3][2]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus speaks of Persian soothsaying.[3][2]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace writes of Persian trappings.[3][2]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses malum Persicum for the peach.[3][2]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses the feminine noun persicus for the peach tree.[3][2]
  • 43/44 AD – Mela names the Persian Gulf sinus Persicus.[3][2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Persian, of Persia or the Persians.[3][4]
  2. sinus Persicus, mare Persicum: the Persian Gulf.[3][4]
  3. gradus Persicus: the fifth grade of initiation in the cult of Mithras.[3]
  4. In names of plants: malum Persicum, a peach;[3] arbor Persica, a peach tree; also a kind of walnut and a kind of cress.[3]

Noun

  1. (feminine) A peach tree.[3][2]

Usage notes

A separate adjective Persicus was formed from Persēs, the name of Perseus, the last king of Macedon: Cicero speaks of the war against him as bellum Persicum.[3][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press