eburnus

Forms

eburnus (feminine eburna, neuter eburnum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ebur (“ivory”) + -nus.^[2][1] For ebur the OLD compares Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant, ivory”), and Wiktionary takes it as a loanword, probably through Demotic, from that Egyptian word, perhaps related to the second half of Ancient Greek ἐλέφας (eléphas, “elephant, ivory”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus.^[3] Lucilius has an ivory mirror.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means made of ivory, or decorated with it: Lucretius has India walled with ivory, that is, with elephants.^[2] Porta eburna is the ivory gate of the underworld through which false dreams come.^[2] Ovid calls Pelops ivory for his ivory shoulder, and Propertius praises ivory-white fingers.^[2] Wiktionary treats it as a form of eburneus.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of an ivory mirror.^[2][3]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of an ivory rampart.^[2][3]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of white fingers.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made of ivory; decorated with ivory;^[2][1] porta eburna, the ivory gate of false dreams.^[2][1]
2. White as ivory.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de