Etymologically
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citrus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɪ.trʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈt͡ʃiː.trus][1]

Forms

citrus f (genitive citrī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Ancient Greek κέδρος (kédros, “juniper berry, cedar cone”), with the Latin change of /dr/ to /tr/.[2][3][4][5] De Vaan points out that the first vowels do not match, so there may have been an Etruscan intermediary, as Wiktionary also assumes;[2][1] alternatively, both words may have been borrowed from a third, perhaps Mediterranean, language.[2] Greek κίτριον (kítrion, “citron tree”) was probably borrowed from the Latin word, and the Greek word for the cedar was borrowed again later as cedrus.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Varro (116–27 BC),[2][6] who writes in his Menippean satires that Libyssa citrus fasciis cingit fores “Libyan citrus binds the doors with bands”, of the tree's wood.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word named an African tree whose fragrant wood was made into furniture and fetched very high prices;[5][3] Pliny speaks of the craze for tables of it.[4] The wood itself was usually called citrum.[2][5]

It also named the citron tree, whose fruit and leaves were laid among clothes against moths and used as an antidote to poison.[5][3] Servius reports that many identified the tree bearing the Median apple with the citrus, which Apuleius denied.[4]

English took citrus in 1825 from the Modern Latin genus name;[7] citron and citrine came earlier, through French.[7]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro writes of Libyan citrus wood.[4][2][6]
  • 43/44 AD – Pomponius Mela lists it with the terebinth among the riches of pleasant woodlands.[4][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the tree, its costly wood and the fashion for citrus-wood tables.[5][4][6]
  • c. 400 AD – Servius reports the dispute over whether the Median apple tree is the citrus.[4][6]
  • 1825 – English takes citrus from the Modern Latin genus name.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An African tree, Callitris quadrivalvis (Thuja articulata), with fragrant, highly prized wood.[3][2][5]
  2. The citron tree, Citrus medica.[3][2][5]

Word family

  • citrago
  • citrārius
  • cītrātus
  • citrētum
  • citreus
  • citrōsus
  • citrum
  • citrifōrmis
  • English citrus
  • English citron

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com