myrtus

Forms

myrtus f (genitive myrtī); second declension^[1] It is also spelled murtus and mirtus.^[2][3] Virgil and Horace have a fourth-declension nominative plural myrtūs.^[2] In Cato it is apparently masculine.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μύρτος (múrtos, “myrtle”).^[2][1][3] Pliny the Elder notes that the tree keeps its Greek name.^[4] Isidore of Seville derived it from mare (“sea”), because it grows best on the shore.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest examples are in Cato's De agri cultura, where the word appears to be masculine.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the myrtle tree and its foliage, as in Horace's “to bind the head with green myrtle”.^[2][3] In poetry it is also a spear of myrtle wood, as the shepherd's spear tipped with a point in Virgil.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato in his work on farming.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a spear of myrtle wood.^[2][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of myrtle wreaths.^[3][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder notes the Greek name.^[4][6]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville derives it from the sea.^[5][4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The myrtle tree; its foliage.^[2][3][1]
2. A spear of myrtle wood.^[2][3]

Word family

• myrtaceus
• myrtatus
• myrtētum
• myrteus
• myrtinus

Related words

• myrtum

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de