fagineus

Forms

fāgineus (feminine fāginea, neuter fāgineum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from fāgus (“beech”) with the suffix -neus.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary explains the ending ⟨-ineus⟩, which is not productive in Latin, as modelled on Ancient Greek φηγινέος (phēginéos), a variant of φήγινος (phḗginos, “oaken”), perhaps reinforced by formations such as oleāgineus (“of olives”).^[1] The TLL compares the synonym fāginus and the same Greek adjective.^[4]

The base goes back to Proto-Italic *fāgo- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g-o- (“oak; beech”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato the Elder is its first author:^[3][5] in his work on farming he orders a vat to be made of elm wood or beech wood.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

It always kept its plain sense, of the beech tree or of beechwood.^[2][7] Ovid uses it of a beechwood bowl in the Metamorphoses (in a line the TLL marks as spurious) and of a garland of beech leaves in the Fasti,^[4][8] Pliny the Elder has the ash of beech mast as a remedy,^[4] and Ausonius uses it in the Mosella.^[4]

Medieval writers used it in the same sense, and also as a neuter noun for beechwood.^[9]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for a vat of beechwood.^[4][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a beechwood vessel and of beech leaves.^[4][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions the ash of beech mast.^[4][5]
• c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses it in the Mosella.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the beech tree; of beechwood, beechen.^[2][6][7]
2. (Medieval Latin, as a neuter noun) Beechwood.^[9]

Related words

• fāgus
• fāginus
• fāgūtālis
• English beech

Usage notes

The form fāginus has the same meaning and is used by Virgil and Ovid.^[10][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
11. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier