mare

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈma.rɛ]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmaː.re]^[1]

Forms

mare n (genitive maris); third declension^[1] Old ablative marid appears in an inscription, and Varro, Lucretius and Ovid have the ablative mare; the genitive plural is usually marium, marum in Naevius.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *mari (“sea, lake”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *móri (“sea, lake”), with ⟨a⟩ from the unrounding of ⟨*o⟩ in an open syllable.^[3][1] De Vaan notes that the word meant any large body of water, a lake as well as the sea, and that it is limited to the European languages.^[3] Cognate with Old Irish muir, Welsh môr, Lithuanian mãrės, Old Church Slavonic морє (morje), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹 (marei), Old High German mari and Old Norse marr.^[3][2][4] Isidore derived it from the bitterness (⟨amārus⟩) of its waters.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Livius Andronicus, in trāns mare “overseas”.^[2] Köbler dates Livius Andronicus 280/260 to before 200 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant the sea, trāns mare overseas, abroad, and in Ennius the stormy, destructive sea.^[2] From Plautus it meant a particular sea, and the sea as one of the three parts of the world beside land and sky, mare caelō miscēre “to mix the sea with the sky” meant to raise a great storm.^[2] In Ennius it was the sea as the road of ships, as in terrā marīque “by land and sea”, and in Naevius seawater, used to flavour Greek wines.^[2] Varro says the sea was called aequor because it is level when the wind does not stir it.^[7] Döderlein explains that mare is the sea as a mass of water, against land and air, while aequor, pelagus and pontus refer to its extent.^[8]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant the sea.^[9] British Medieval Latin had ā marī usque ad mare “from sea to sea”.^[10] It survives as Italian and Romanian mare, French mer and Spanish and Portuguese mar.^[1] English mere “lake” is a cognate, from Old English mere.^[11]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it of the sea.^[2][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of the sea as the road of ships.^[2][6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a particular sea.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The sea, trāns mare, overseas.^[2]
2. A particular sea.^[2]
3. The sea as a part of the world, beside land and sky.^[2]
4. The sea as a way for ships, terrā marīque, by land and sea.^[2]
5. Seawater.^[2]

Word family

• mariambulus
• marīnus
• maritimus

Related words

• English mere
• English marine

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from aequor, pelagus and pontus.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua Latina (text of The Latin Library; book and paragraph numbers as there).
8. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com