acervus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [aˈkɛr.wʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [aˈt͡ʃɛr.vus]^[1]

Forms

acervus m (genitive acervī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3][1] Rix derived it from *akes-uo-, from the neuter s-stem of acus “chaff”, so “heap of chaff”, then “heap”; de Vaan calls the sense shift a guess, though the form is possible.^[2][1] The TLL also says it is perhaps derived from acus.^[4] Köbler gives the root *aḱ- “sharp”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who speaks of a heap of grain.^[2][6] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a heap, pile or stack, as Cato's instruction to put the tablets in a heap, and the funeral pyre.^[3] Of immaterial things it meant a large quantity, as Cicero's heaps of crimes, and a confused mass, as Ovid's chaos when air, fire, water and earth were one heap.^[3] Pliny the Elder uses it of the cluster of eyes in a peacock's tail.^[3] In philosophy it translated Ancient Greek σωρίτης (sōrítēs), the sorites, the paradox of the heap, as in Cicero and Horace.^[3][7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of a heap of grain.^[6][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a pile of tablets.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the sorites.^[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A heap, pile, stack; a funeral pile.^[3]
2. A large quantity, mass.^[3]
3. A confused mass.^[3]
4. A cluster, group.^[3]
5. (philosophy) The sorites, the paradox of the heap.^[3]

Word family

• acervālis
• acervātim
• acervō

Related words

• acus
• English coacervate

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.