Etymologically
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flavus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈfɫaː.wʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈflaː.vus][1]

Forms

flāvus (feminine flāva, neuter flāvum, comparative flāvior, superlative flāvissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *flāwo-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-uo- (“yellow”).[2] It is often compared with Old High German blāo (“blue”), Old English blāw (“blue”) and Middle Irish blá (“yellow”), but de Vaan finds it hard to derive both from one form, and calls Schrijver's sound change a hazardous assumption.[2][1] Schrijver also connects it with flōs “flower”.[2]

The OLD considers it probably cognate with the Germanic words and with English blue.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Ennius onwards,[2][4] who describes the sea foaming over a yellow surface.[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant yellow, especially pale yellow or golden, as Lucretius' yellow honey and Virgil's golden corn.[3] It was used of blond hair and of fair-haired people, as Horace's golden-haired Ganymede.[3][1]

Wiktionary notes that it was mostly poetic, and that from the 1st century AD it was also used of blushing skin.[1] Seneca speaks of a “golden” blush, and Martial calls gold coins flavi.[5][6]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of the sea.[3][4]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of honey.[3][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of corn and hair.[3][4]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses flavi of gold coins.[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Yellow, golden.[3][1]
  2. Fair-haired, blond.[3][1]
  3. (of skin) Blushing.[6][1]

Word family

  • flāvēns
  • flāveō
  • flāvēscō
  • flāvicomus
  • flāvidus
  • sufflāvus
  • flōrus
  • flōs

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes flavus, a bright and beautiful yellow like light auburn hair, from luteus, a full yellow, and luridus, a pale, unhealthy yellow.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper