cornum

Forms

cornum n (genitive cornī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *korno- (“cornel cherry, cherry”), to which de Vaan traces it together with the tree name cornus.^[2] Wiktionary and the OLD treat it as the neuter fruit name beside that tree name.^[1][3] Cognate with Ancient Greek κράνον (kránon, “cornel cherry tree”) and κράνεια (kráneia), and perhaps with Lithuanian Kìrnis (“divine protector of the cherry”), although that comparison is rather isolated.^[2] De Vaan thinks the Greek and Latin words are probably loanwords from a third language; if κέρασος (kérasos, “bird cherry”) is related too, the source was probably an eastern language, from which the cherry came into Europe.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates the neuter from Varro;^[2] the earliest example the OLD gives is in Virgil's Aeneid, where branches give a poor diet of berries and stony cornels.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It is the fruit of the cornelian cherry, mentioned by Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Columella and Pliny the Elder;^[3][5] Horace speaks of wild cornels and Pliny of cultivated ones.^[3][5] Ovid also uses it for a spear made of cornel wood, hurled with a heavy bronze point.^[3][5] A grammarian of the Probus collection points out that cornua (horns) and corna, a kind of fruit, are different words.^[6]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses the neuter cornum.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil mentions cornels as poor food.^[3][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace mentions wild cornels.^[3][5][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a spear of cornel wood.^[3][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions cultivated cornels.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The fruit of the cornelian cherry, a cornel berry.^[3][5]
2. (poetic) A spear of cornel wood.^[3][5]

Related words

• cornus

Usage notes

A separate cornum is a variant of cornū, “horn”,^[3][5][6] which Wiktionary explains either from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂-nó-m or as a by-form of that noun.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften