burra

Forms

burra f (genitive burrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin burrus (“red”), used as a noun: Wiktionary derives it from the adjective,^[1] and Festus already explains the rustic burra as a heifer with a red muzzle.^[2][3] For the sense “wool, shaggy cloth” the TLL calls the origin uncertain and compares reburrus (“with bristling hair”);^[2] Etymonline also calls the Late Latin word, “flock of wool”, of uncertain origin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Festus (in Paul's epitome) it is the country word for a small cow with a red muzzle.^[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

In a poem of Eucheria in the Latin Anthology it is a coarse, shaggy woollen cloth, set beside noble purple.^[2][6][7] Ausonius uses the plural burrae for trifles, nonsense, beside quisquiliae.^[3][6][7] In Medieval Latin it is coarse wool and stuffing, French bourre,^[8][9] and Etymonline suggests it lies behind Old French borjon, English burgeon.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses the plural burrae for nonsense.^[3][7][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small cow with a red muzzle (a rustic word, in Festus).^[3][5]
2. (Late Latin) A coarse woollen cloth; a shaggy garment.^[3][6][5]
3. (Late Latin, in the plural) Trifles, nonsense.^[3][6][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Coarse wool, stuffing.^[8][9]

Related words

• reburrus

References

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