bubalus

Forms

būbalus m (genitive būbalī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek βούβαλος (boúbalos, “antelope, buffalo”).^[2][3][1] Köbler compares βοῦς (boûs, “cow, ox”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Pliny the Elder,^[4] who uses it for an antelope and, beside the bison, for a wild ox.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it named an African antelope or gazelle and a wild ox or buffalo;^[2][7] Martial has a fierce buffalo yield to a rhinoceros.^[2] The Vulgate uses it for the gazelle, and also has an adjective bubalus “of the gazelle”.^[7][5] Venantius Fortunatus has the form ⟨bufalus⟩.^[5][8]

Medieval Latin used it for the wild ox or a bull,^[9] and for the domestic water buffalo of southern lands.^[10] It is the source of Italian bufalo,^[6][1] from which French buffle was borrowed.^[1]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for an antelope and for a wild ox.^[2][4]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial has a buffalo yield to a rhinoceros.^[2][4]
• 1st half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses it of the gazelle and of the wild ox.^[7][5][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for the gazelle.^[7][4]
• 536–c. 610 AD – Venantius Fortunatus writes ⟨bufalus⟩.^[5][4]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it in a list of beasts.^[9][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An African antelope or gazelle.^[2][7]
2. A wild ox, buffalo.^[2][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A bull; the domestic water buffalo.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften