cornus

Forms

cornus f (genitive cornī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *korno- (“cornel cherry, cherry”).^[2] Cognate with Ancient Greek κράνον (kránon, “cornel cherry tree”) and κράνεια (kráneia), and perhaps with Ancient Greek κέρασος (kérasos, “bird cherry”).^[2][3] De Vaan thinks the Greek–Latin correspondence is likely to come from a borrowing from a third language, and if the Greek word for the bird cherry is related, from a language of the east, from where the cherry came into Europe;^[2] Wiktionary likewise suggests a Mediterranean substrate.^[1] He considers the comparison with a Lithuanian name of the divine protector of the cherry rather isolated.^[2] The fourth-declension forms may be modelled on quercus “oak”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Varro on,^[2] who names the flowers of the cornel tree in his treatise on farming.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The tree was known for its hard wood:^[4] Ovid speaks of a piece of cornel wood,^[3] and Virgil, followed by Silius Italicus and Statius, uses the word for a javelin or spear made of it.^[3][5][6] Columella and Pliny the Elder also use it for the tree.^[5][4]

It kept the meaning of the cornel tree in Medieval Latin, from Aldhelm on;^[7][8] Ælfric glosses it with Old English corntreow.^[8] The fruit was called cornum.^[9]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro names the flowers of the cornel.^[3][10]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for the tree in the Georgics and for a cornel-wood javelin in the Aeneid.^[3][6][10]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it for cornel wood.^[3][10]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it in his poem on virginity.^[7][8][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The cornel tree or cornelian cherry, Cornus mas.^[3][5]
2. Its wood.^[3]
3. (by metonymy) A javelin or spear of cornel wood.^[3][5][6]

Word family

• corneus
• cornētum

Related words

• cornum
• English cornel

Usage notes

cornus also occurs, rarely, as a masculine variant of cornū “horn”, in Varro and Cicero.^[6][11] The Sardinian town of Cornus has the same spelling.^[5][6]

References

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