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harundo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word harundo

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [haˈrʊn.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aˈrun.do][1]

Forms

harundō f (genitive harundinis); third declension[1] It is also spelled arundō, common in manuscripts and editions,[2][3] but Lewis and Short call harundō the better spelling.[3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain; the OLD calls it doubtful.[2][4] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *χarund-en-.[4] He notes that Germanic words for reed in ⟨*hreud-⟩ and Tocharian B karwa (“reeds”) do not lead to a common form,[4] and reports Driessen's proposal to connect it with a Gaulish *garunda (“shallow watercourse, riverbank”), seen in the name of the river Garonne, since reeds thrive in shallow water.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] who has a fisherman carrying a rod, basket and hook, and a bird beating its wings against a limed reed.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a reed, as in Cato, and harundō Indica in Pliny the Elder is bamboo.[2] Many things were made of reeds and named after them: a fishing rod and a limed rod for catching birds in Plautus, a reed to ride as a hobby-horse in Horace, a reed pen in Persius, a rod for separating the threads of the warp in Ovid, a rattle for scaring birds, a blade, a tube for inhaling smoke or giving medicine, and a splint in Suetonius.[2] It is also a shepherd's pipe, as Virgil's woodland Muse played on a slender reed, and one tube of a panpipe in Tibullus.[2] Finally it is the shaft of an arrow or an arrow, as Ovid's arrow with lead under the shaft.[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “reed, cane, rod, shaft, twig”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a fishing rod and a limed reed.[2][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of a green reed.[2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a shepherd's pipe.[2][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of an arrow and of a weaver's rod.[2][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of bamboo.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A reed, cane;[2][1][5] harundō Indica, bamboo.[2][1][5]
  2. A fishing rod; a limed rod for catching birds.[2][1]
  3. An object made of reed: a hobby-horse, pen, weaver's rod, rattle, blade, tube or splint.[2]
  4. A shepherd's pipe; a tube of a panpipe.[2][1]
  5. The shaft of an arrow; an arrow.[2][1]

Word family

  • harundifer
  • harundināceus
  • harundinārius
  • harundinatio
  • harundinētum
  • harundineus
  • harundinōsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Harundo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/harundo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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