fraxinus

Forms

frā̆xinus f (genitive frā̆xinī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *frakse/ino-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bhrHǵ-s-e/ino-, formed with the suffix ⟨*-eno-⟩ or ⟨*-ino-⟩, as are alnus, farnus and quernus.^[2] All the etymologies proposed take it as a cognate of the Indo-European word for the birch; de Vaan follows Schrijver, who supposes that the root noun *bherHǵ- “birch” came to mean the ash and took on the s-stem of the old word for the ash, *Heh3-s-, seen in Latin ornus.^[2] The OLD calls the origin doubtful, comparing the Sanskrit word for the birch,^[3] and the TLL calls it uncertain.^[4] Whether the ⟨a⟩ was long or short is not known, though Schrijver argues for a short vowel.^[2]

Cognate with Sanskrit भूर्ज (bhūrjá-, “kind of birch”), Lithuanian béržas, Russian берёза (berëza), Old Norse bjǫrk and Old High German birihha (“birch”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler find it first in Ennius,^[2][5] whose Annales have exciditur ilex, fraxinus frangitur, “the holm oak is cut down, the ash is broken”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is the ash tree and its wood:^[3][6] Virgil calls it fraxinus in silvis pulcherrima, “the ash, the fairest in the woods”, and Horace and Ovid use it as well.^[6] Since spears were made of ash, poets used it for a spear or javelin, first Accius.^[3][6]

The adjective fraxinus, “of ash wood”, formed from the noun on the model of fāginus, is a rare poetic word for the usual frāxineus;^[3][6][4] Ovid has fraxina virga, “a rod of ash”.^[3][6][4]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius writes of an ash being broken.^[3][2][5]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of an ash spear.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil calls it the fairest tree in the woods.^[6][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has the adjective fraxinus.^[3][6][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the tree.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ash tree; its wood.^[3][6][1]
2. (poetic) A spear or javelin of ash.^[3][6][1]

Adjective

1. (poetic) Of ash wood, ashen.^[3][6][1]

Word family

• frāxineus
• frā̆xinētum

Related words

• farnus
• ornus
• alnus
• English birch

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press