Etymologically
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barbus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 09:33. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈbar.bʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈbar.bus][1]

Forms

barbus m (genitive barbī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is a derivative of barba (“beard”), the fish being named after the barbels at its mouth.[2][1][3][4] Köbler, however, calls its origin unclear.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ausonius names it in his poem on the Moselle, among the river's fish: laxōs exercēs, barbe, natātūs, “you, barbel, take your easy swims”.[3][6][5]

Semantic evolution

Ausonius mentions it twice in the same poem.[6][7] Lewis & Short compare Cicero's bearded mullets.[7] In medieval Latin it, and a form ⟨barbō⟩, appear in the glosses beside Old High German barbo, in the Visigothic laws, in the Ecbasis captivi and in monastic rules.[8][5][9] Old High German barbo, German Barbe, Italian barbo and Italian barbio come from it.[2][5][3][4]

Timeline

  • c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius names the barbel among the fish of the Moselle.[3][5]
  • mid-11th century – The Ecbasis captivi mentions it.[8][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The barbel, a river fish.[7][6][10][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Walde, Alois (1906), Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Liber exquisiti xenii: Lexikon frühmittelalterlicher Rechtswörter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.