Etymologically
Log in

corylus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 14:08. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɔ.ry.ɫʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔː.ri.lus][1]

Forms

corylus f (genitive corylī); second declension[1] Also spelled corulus.[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kosolo- (“hazel”) or *kosulo-.[4] Cognate with Old Irish coll and Old Welsh coll, Old Lithuanian kasùlas (“hunter's spear, stick, bush”), Old High German hasal and Old Norse hasl “hazel”.[4][2] The Celtic and Germanic words continue a form without the middle vowel, the Lithuanian one a form with it; de Vaan notes that these different suffixes, the restriction to Europe and the fact that it is a tree name could point to a non-Indo-European origin.[4] Wiktionary sets them under Proto-Indo-European *kóslos, unless the Italic word was borrowed from Celtic or Germanic or all come from a substrate.[1] Köbler gives the root as *koselo-.[5]

The spelling with ⟨y⟩ beside older ⟨u⟩ may be a Greek-looking reworking, as in poetry;[1] Priscian took the ⟨y⟩ as proof that the word came from Greek.[6] The adjective colurnus “of hazel” shows a metathesis of the /r/ and /l/.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Cato,[4][5] who tells the reader to make a ring of elm or of hazel, orbem ex ulmo aut ex corylo facito.[6] It means the hazel.[2]

Semantic evolution

It named the hazel tree and its wood.[2][3] Virgil has it in the Eclogues and Georgics, and Pliny the Elder says it is very well suited for torches.[6] Macrobius says the Avellana or Praenestine nut grows on the tree called corylus.[6]

In Medieval Latin from Britain it meant the hazel, a hazel twig and hazel wood, also of tallies, and was glossed with Old English words for the hazel.[7] The TLL gives French coudre as a descendant.[6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for hazel wood.[6][4][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Eclogues and Georgics.[3][6][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder calls it well suited for torches.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A hazel or filbert tree; hazelwood.[2][3][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A hazel twig; hazel wood used for tallies.[7]

Word family

  • colurnus
  • corylētum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b 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