Etymologically
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cerasium

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɛˈra.si.ũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [t͡ʃeˈraː.s̬i.um][1]

Forms

cerasium n (genitive cerasiī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κεράσιον (kerásion, “cherry”).[2][1][3][4] The Greek word belongs with κέρασος (kérasos, “cherry tree”), which Köbler takes either from Asia Minor or as a Phrygian or Dacian loanword.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Celsus.[3] Columella says that shoots are to be grafted around the Ides, as those of cherry trees are: surculī ... īnserendī sunt, ut cerasiōrum.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It names the cherry, the fruit, while cerasus is chiefly the tree: Servius says that the tree is called cerasus and the fruit cerasium.[4][2] Columella uses it also for the tree.[2][4] Tertullian credits Gnaeus Pompeius with first bringing the cherry from Pontus to Italy in one work, and Lucullus in another;[4] Apicius tells how to keep figs, pears and cherries for a long time,[4] and Diocletian's price edict lists cherries.[4][5]

Glossaries render it with the Greek word and, in German glosses, with Old High German words for the cherry;[4][6][3] some medieval glosses use it for the sloe.[6] Its form ⟨ceresium⟩ is the source of ciliegia and cerise,[4] and Wiktionary traces a Late Latin ceresia to it.[1]

Timeline

  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it.[3]
  • 1st century AD – Columella writes of grafting cherry trees.[2][4][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it.[7][8][3]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian tells how the cherry came to Italy from Pontus.[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cherry; also, collectively, cherries.[2][9][5]
  2. The cherry tree.[2][4]
  3. (Medieval Latin) The sloe.[6]

Usage notes

Spellings include ceraseum, ceresium and carasium, and medieval scribes wrote cęrasium and caracia.[4][6][3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press