Etymologically
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arbor

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈar.bɔr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈar.bor][1]

Forms

arbor f (genitive arboris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *arþōs.[2] De Vaan connects it with arduus “high”, from the root Proto-Indo-European *h₃rdʰ- (“upright, high”), and reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₃rdʰ-ōs (“uprightness, height”), which would have taken the concrete sense “upright thing, tree”.[2] He notes the drawback that the other languages build their adjective “high” on a stem *h₃rdʰ-u-o-, so that arbor would be a very archaic formation.[2] The OLD calls the origin doubtful, and Köbler gives the same root, Pokorny's *erədʰ- “high, to grow”.[3][4] The older nominative arbōs keeps the original /s/, which became /r/ between vowels in the oblique cases (arbosem in Festus) and then spread to the nominative.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose slave says he will climb some tree to keep watch.[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense was always “tree”, also collectively “trees”, as Sallust's land unfruitful in trees, and the trunk of a tree in Pliny the Elder.[3] Cato uses it of the beam of an olive press, and poets of things made of wood, such as a ship or an oar.[3][5] Pliny also names a sea creature with spreading arms arbor, perhaps a kind of squid.[3] Virgil and Ovid prefer the old form arbōs.[2][3] Isidore of Seville distinguished arbor, fruit-bearing or barren, from arbōs, which he said was used only of fruit-bearing trees.[6]

In Medieval Latin it was used of the tree of Jesse and of genealogical trees, and the tree of Porphyry was a diagram of genus and species.[7] Every Romance language continues it, as French arbre, Italian albero, Romanian arbore and Spanish árbol.[8][1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of climbing a tree.[3][4]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of the beam of an olive press.[3][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the old nominative arbōs.[2][3][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder names a sea creature arbor.[3][4]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville distinguishes arbor and arbōs.[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A tree, (collectively) trees.[3]
  2. The trunk of a tree.[3]
  3. A wooden beam or post, especially in an olive press, (poetic) a thing made of wood, such as a ship, an oar or a gallows.[3][5]
  4. A sea creature, perhaps a kind of squid.[3]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A genealogical tree, the tree of Jesse.[7]

Word family

  • arborarius
  • arborator
  • arborēscō
  • arborētum
  • arboreus
  • arbuscula
  • arbustus
  • arbustīvus
  • arbustō
  • arbustum
  • arduus
  • English arbor
  • English arboreal

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom