frondifer

Forms

frondifer (feminine frondifera, neuter frondiferum); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2] The older spelling frundifer is found in Naevius.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin frōns¹ (“foliage”) + -fer (“bearing”), the second part from ferō (“to bear”).^[1][2][4][5] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the noun.^[6] He calls the origin of that noun unclear: an old comparison with Ancient Greek θρόνα (thróna, “herbs, flowers”) needs an extra suffix in Latin, and he suggests that the Greek and Latin words might both come from a Mediterranean substrate word for plants.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius, in a tragedy, has frundiferōs locōs, “leafy places”, a line quoted by Nonius.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

It remained a poetic word.^[2] Lucretius uses it of the leafy homes of birds, of woods and of a grove,^[4][2] and Seneca of groves in his Oedipus.^[4][2]

In Christian Latin an old version of Ezekiel speaks of a campus frondifer, a field full of plants,^[4] and Sidonius Apollinaris writes of the leafy summit of an Alp.^[4] An English glossary of the Middle Ages explains a frondifer grove with Old English words.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius writes of leafy places.^[4][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of woods and groves.^[4][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of groves.^[4][5]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses it of a mountain summit.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Bearing leaves, leafy (of trees, woods).^[1][2][3]
2. Of places, rich in trees or plants.^[4][8]

Related words

• frōns¹
• frondeō
• frondōsus

References

1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier