glaber

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈɡɫa.bɛr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɡlaː.ber]^[1]

Forms

glaber (feminine glabra, neuter glabrum, superlative glaberrimus); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *χlaþro-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlh₂dʰ-ro- (“smooth”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰleh₂dʰ- (“smooth, shiny”).^[2][1][3] Schrijver takes the /a/ as the regular outcome of the PIE form.^[2] Cognate with Lithuanian glodùs (“smooth”), Old Church Slavonic гладъкъ (gladŭkŭ, “smooth”), Old High German glat (“smooth, shiny”) and English glad.^[2][4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it of sheep “as hairless as this hand”.^[5][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was hairless or smooth, of animals, as Varro's goats, and of people shaved bare.^[4][5] It was used of other things lacking their usual covering, as napless cloth in Caecilius and Pliny's beardless barley.^[4][7] Döderlein contrasts it, bare of hair, with lēvis, smooth and not rough.^[8]

In medieval Latin it was glossed as bald or bare.^[9] English glabrous is from it, and Italian gabbro survives.^[3][1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of sheep.^[5][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of goats.^[4][6]
• 1630s – English glabrous is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Hairless, smooth, bald.^[4][5]
2. Lacking a usual covering, as napless cloth or beardless barley.^[4][7]

Word family

• glabellus
• glabrātus
• glabrēscō
• glabripennis
• glabrirōstris
• glabrō

Related words

• lēvis
• English glabrous
• English glad

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
9. ^ 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