Etymologically
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bufo

Etymology and origin of the Latin word bufo

History Permalink
Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
Virgil

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈbuː.foː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈbuː.fo][1]

Forms

būfō m (genitive būfōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

Its intervocalic ⟨f⟩ shows that it is a loan from another Italic dialect.[2][1][3] It seems to have meant any small creeping animal: Servius glosses it as a land frog, while another gloss calls it a wood mouse.[2] The OLD and Etymonline compare Old Prussian gabawo (“toad”) and words for frog from Proto-Indo-European *gʷebʰ-, but de Vaan doubts the connection.[4][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Virgil, whose Georgics name it among the pests of the threshing floor; it is a hapax there.[2][5][6] Köbler dates Virgil 70–19 BC.[7]

Semantic evolution

Classical Latin has it only in Virgil, as a toad.[4][2] In Medieval Latin it remained the toad, and also took the sense “buffoon, clown”.[8][9] It survives in Italian buffone “jester”.[1] English bufo was borrowed for the toad genus.[3]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it once, of a toad.[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A toad.[4]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A buffoon, clown.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
Cite this entry

“Bufo.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/bufo. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·