bovinus

Forms

bovīnus (feminine bovīna, neuter bovīnum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Medieval texts also spell it bubinus, bobinus and vobinus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin bōs (“ox, cow”) + -īnus.^[1][4][5] The base goes back through Proto-Italic *gʷōs to Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws, and Wiktionary marks it as perhaps a borrowing from Osco-Umbrian;^[1] Etymonline quotes Buck's view that it was a loanword from a rural dialect.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest author the TLL and Conte cite is Symmachus (c. 340–402 AD),^[5][7][8] in one of his speeches, where the word qualifies tegmen “covering” and the TLL's text restores part of it.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Late medical writers use it of parts of cattle as food or remedies: Plinius Valerianus has pedes bovini “cattle's feet”^[4] and the Diaeta ascribed to Theodorus Priscianus has medulla bovina “beef marrow”.^[9][4][10] The TLL equates it with the older adjectives bubulus and bovillus.^[5]

In Medieval Latin it was common in records of hides, meat and livestock: coria bovina “ox hides”, carnes bovinae “beef”,^[2][11] and animalia bovina “cattle”.^[12] British sources also use it of things made of oxhide and of what is ox-like.^[11] Italian bovino continues the Late Latin word,^[7] and English took bovine from it through French.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses it in a speech.^[5][7][8]
• 1085–1086 – The Domesday Book counts ox hides as coria bovina.^[11][13]
• 1268 – An inquest quoted by Du Cange calls cattle bestias bovinas.^[12]
• 1427 – An Oxford formulary names Aula bovina, Beef Hall.^[11]
• 1817 – English borrows it, through French, as bovine.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to cattle, oxen or cows; bovine.^[9][4][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) Made of oxhide.^[11][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) Ox-like in nature.^[11]

Related words

• bos
• bubulus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
11. ^ a b c d e f 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
12. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin