Etymologically
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arbuteus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [arˈbʊ.te.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [arˈbuː.te.us][1]

Forms

arbuteus (feminine arbutea, neuter arbuteum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin arbutus (“strawberry tree”) + -eus.[2][1][3] The OLD calls the origin of arbutus unknown;[2] Lewis and Short connected it with arbor (“tree”), but Schrijver finds no reliable etymology for it.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Virgil is its first author:[4] in the Georgics he names arbuteae crātēs, hurdles made of arbutus wood, and in the Aeneid arbutus twigs.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It means of the arbutus or strawberry tree, or made of its wood.[2][5] Ovid uses it of the tree's fruit and its leaves, and Statius of its bark.[3][5] It survives in French arbouse and Spanish alborzo.[3]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of hurdles and twigs of arbutus.[3][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the arbutus fruit.[5][4]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of arbutus bark.[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of the arbutus or strawberry tree.[2][5]
  2. Made of arbutus wood.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press