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frutex

Etymology and origin of the Latin word frutex

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Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
Plautus

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈfrʊ.tɛks][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfruː.teks][1]

Forms

frutex m (genitive fruticis); third declension[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.[2][3][1] A link with Old English brēowan (“to brew”), from *bʰrewH- “to sprout”, would require a shortened *frūto-, which Schrijver rejects, and the meaning is not obvious.[2][1] De Vaan also considers Old Irish broth (“awn, hair”), and thinks it might be a borrowed plant word.[2] Isidore said the shrub was named because it covers the ground with leaves.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus, who calls a slave a blockhead: “you speak neither likely nor true, you shrub”.[2][5][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a shrub or bush, as Lucretius' early men hiding among bushes, as distinct from a tree, and also a shoot or stem.[3][6] Plautus used it as a term of abuse, “blockhead”.[3]

Its derivative frutectum meant a thicket.[7] Botanists borrowed English frutex and fruticose “shrubby”.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls a slave a blockhead.[3][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius has early men hide among bushes.[3][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of every kind of wood and shrub.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A shrub, bush.[3]
  2. A shoot, stem.[3]
  3. (abusive) A blockhead.[3]

Word family

  • frutectum
  • fruticētum
  • fruticōsus
  • fruticō
  • suffrutex

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Cite this entry

“Frutex.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/frutex. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·