flabrum

Forms

flābrum n (genitive flābrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin flō (“to blow”) + -brum.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces flō, with a question mark, to Proto-Indo-European *bhleh1- (“to blow”), perhaps related to fleō (“to weep”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Lucretius.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It is a gust or blast of wind;^[2] the OLD's quotations have only the plural flābra, and Georges notes that the plural is usual, as Servius observed on Virgil's Georgics.^[2][5] It is used by Lucretius, Virgil and other poets.^[5] Macrobius has the singular, of air set in motion by a gust.^[5]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius.^[3][5][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil, in the Georgics.^[5][4]
• 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius, with the singular.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gust or blast of wind, a breeze (usually plural).^[2][5][1]

Related words

• flō
• flābellum
• flāmen²

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn