eboreus

Forms

eboreus (feminine eborea, neuter eboreum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ebur (“ivory”) + -eus.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Petronius, who mentions an ivory ring worn on the arm.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The classical adjective was eburneus;^[7] a grammarian even prescribes eburnea, non eborea.^[4] The OLD and the TLL record eboreus for things made of ivory, such as the ivory statues of Apollo and Jupiter in Pliny the Elder, ivory models of towns in Quintilian and ivory tables in the Digest,^[4][8][2] and also for elephants' tusks themselves.^[4]

In Medieval Latin it describes ivory combs, censers and caskets,^[9][10] and the neuter became a noun meaning ivory.^[9] Etymonline traces English ivory, through Old North French ⟨ivurie⟩, to a Medieval Latin noun ⟨eborium⟩ made from it,^[11] and Conte gives it as the source of Italian avorio.^[5]

Timeline

• before 66 AD – Petronius mentions an ivory ring.^[4][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of ivory statues.^[4][2][6]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian mentions ivory models of towns.^[4][8][6]
• first third of the 8th century – Bede quotes a papal letter sending an ivory comb.^[9][6]
• 799 – A description of the church of Saint-Denis uses the neuter as a noun for ivory.^[9]
• mid-13th century – English has ivory, from Anglo-French.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made of ivory.^[2][8][12]
2. Of ivory, consisting of ivory (of elephants' tusks).^[4][2]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin, neuter) Ivory.^[9]

Related words

• eburneus
• English ivory

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (1960–; online ed. 2025), Barcelona: CSIC / Institució Milà i Fontanals, gmlc.imf.csic.es
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson