myrteus

Forms

myrteus (feminine myrtea, neuter myrteum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Also spelled murteus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin myrtus (“myrtle”) + -eus.^[2][4][1] The noun is borrowed from Ancient Greek μύρτος (múrtos, “myrtle”);^[2][1] Pliny the Elder already noted that the tree kept its Greek name.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Cato's De agri cultura, of myrtle rods and of myrtle wine.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Virgil has a myrtle wood in the underworld, Ovid and Martial myrtle trees, and Celsus compares a shape to a myrtle leaf.^[2] Varro mentions a shrine of Venus with the title Myrtea.^[2] It is used of myrtle wreaths in Tibullus and Ovid, and of a myrtle crown in Valerius Maximus and Gellius;^[2] Paulus' epitome of Festus explains that Papirius wore a myrtle crown because he had defeated the Sardinians on the Myrtean plains.^[3] Cato and Pliny the Elder speak of myrtle wine, and Pliny and Celsus of myrtle oil, the neuter myrteum alone standing for the oil.^[2]

It also described colour, dark green like the leaves or brown like the bark: Petronius has a cloak of myrtle colour.^[2] Columella names a variety of olive with it, and Cloatius a pear.^[2] An Old English glossary renders it with a word for purple, and Osbern of Gloucester derives it from mirtus.^[5]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of myrtle rods and myrtle wine.^[2][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro mentions the shrine of Venus Myrtea.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil writes of a myrtle wood.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella names a variety of olive with it.^[2][6]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of a colour.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a myrtle tree or myrtle trees;^[2][3] made of myrtle leaves; made from myrtle berries.^[2]
2. oleum myrteum or myrteum, myrtle oil.^[2][3]
3. Resembling the myrtle in colour, dark green or brown;^[2] (Medieval Latin) purple.^[5]
4. The name of varieties of fruit, a pear and an olive.^[2]

Related words

• myrtus

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 o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b 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
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de