barba

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈbar.ba]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈbar.ba]^[1]

Forms

barba f (genitive barbae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *farðā, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰardʰéh₂ (“beard”).^[1][2] Since PIE /bʰ/ normally became /f/ at the start of a Latin word, the expected form is ⟨*farba⟩.^[3][1] Walde–Hofmann and Ernout–Meillet explain the initial /b/ by assimilation to the /rb/ inside the word.^[3][1] De Vaan adds that the /a/ of the root is hard to explain by ablaut and rather points to a non-Indo-European word borrowed into the European languages.^[3] Cognate with Old Church Slavonic брада (brada), Lithuanian barzdà, Old High German bart and Old English beard.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of a man's beard.^[4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant a beard, in the plural a large or unkempt one, and the golden beard of a god's statue in Varro.^[4] Lucilius has phrases for growing and shaving the beard, and Horace the proverb barbam vellere, to tweak someone's beard as an insult.^[4] In Virgil it was used of animals, in Pliny the Elder of plants, and Iovis barba “Jupiter's beard” was a shrub.^[4]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a beard.^[5] British Medieval Latin also used it of a beast's beard and of the wattle of a fowl.^[6] It survives in every Romance language, as Romanian barbă, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese barba.^[7][1] In Dalmatian, Istriot, northern Italian, Friulian, Ladin and Romansh a masculine barba also means “uncle”, the Medieval Latin barba “paternal uncle”.^[7][1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a beard.^[4][2]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius has phrases for growing and shaving it.^[4][2]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of animals.^[4][2]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of plants.^[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A beard.^[4]
2. The beard of an animal.^[4]
3. A beard-like growth on a plant.^[4]
4. Iovis barba, a shrub.^[4]
5. (Medieval Latin) The wattle of a fowl.^[6]

Word family

• barbātōria
• barbātus
• barbiger
• barbitium
• barbula
• barbus
• imberbis
• imberbus
• illūtibarbus
• barbescō
• barbiō
• malebarbis

Related words

• English beard

Usage notes

Barba is also a Roman cognomen, as of Cassius Barba, a friend of Caesar.^[8][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.