arbutum

Forms

arbutum n (genitive arbutī); second declension^[1] Lucretius has the form ⟨arbita⟩ in the plural.^[2][3] British medieval sources write ⟨arbitum⟩.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin arbutus (“strawberry tree”),^[5][6] with the neuter gender that, as the grammarian Priscian notes, Latin gave to the fruits of trees whose names are feminine.^[7] The tree name itself is of unknown origin:^[5][7][6] Lewis and Short connected it with arbor (“tree”), but Wiktionary notes that later scholars find no reliable etymology.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Lucretius,^[6] who speaks of arbute berries ripening to a crimson colour in winter, and lists them with acorns and pears among the foods gathered in the earliest times.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is the fruit of the strawberry tree, as in Virgil's Georgics.^[5][8] In the plural it also meant the leafy shoots of the tree as fodder: Virgil bids that goats be given plenty of leafy arbutus,^[5][2] and Propertius speaks of arbutus eaten in the stalls.^[5] Rutilius Namatianus uses it for a tree in general, and Georges takes this as a variant of arbustum.^[8][3]

In late medieval England it was the name of the crab apple: a 15th-century glossary gives it as “a crabbe”, and Durham accounts of 1481 record a payment for them.^[4]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses the form ⟨arbita⟩ for the ripening berries.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the fruit and of shoots fed to goats.^[5][6]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of fodder in the stalls.^[5][6]
• c. 417 AD – Rutilius Namatianus uses it for a tree.^[8][6]
• 1481 – Durham accounts use it for crab apples.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The fruit of the strawberry tree, the arbutus berry.^[5][2]
2. (plural) The leafy shoots of the strawberry tree, as fodder.^[5][3]
3. A tree; a plantation of trees.^[8][3]
4. (Medieval Latin) A crab apple.^[4]

Related words

• arbutus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.