Etymologically
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cupressus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kʊˈprɛs.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kuˈprɛs.sus][1]

Forms

cupressus m or f (genitive cupressī or cupressūs); variously declined, second declension, fourth declension[1] Ennius has a masculine accusative plural cupressōs.[2] A fourth-declension genitive cupressūs is in Varro, Pliny the Elder and Apuleius, and an ablative cupressū in Catullus.[3] Virgil also has the Greek form cyparissus, and Late Latin cypressus.[2][3]

Etymology

The TLL, Wiktionary and Köbler take it as borrowed from Ancient Greek κυπάρισσος (kupárissos, “cypress”).[4][1][5] The OLD regards it rather as a loanword from an unknown language, from which the Greek word also came;[3] Latin borrowed the Greek form separately as cyparissus.[3] Köbler too traces the Greek word to a language of the Mediterranean world.[5] Isidore explains the name from the way the tree's crown rises to a point.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius has it first, of tall cypresses standing with straight foliage.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is the cypress tree, and in poetry a spear of cypress wood.[3] Vitruvius recommends cypress wood when fir is scarce, and Celsus lists cypress, apparently its oil, among remedies that disperse swellings.[3] Lewis & Short note the masculine in Ennius and the frequent fourth-declension forms.[2]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of tall cypresses.[3][5]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus has the ablative cupressū.[3][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of cypress wood.[3][5]
  • late 12th century – English cypress comes through Old French from Late Latin cypressus.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cypress tree; a spear of cypress wood.[3][2][1]
  2. Cypress wood.[3]
  3. Oil of cypress.[3]

Word family

  • cupressētum
  • cupresseus
  • cupressifer
  • cupressinus

References

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