Etymologically
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flabrum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfɫaː.brũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈflaː.brum][1]

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]

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