oleagineus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɔ.ɫe.aːˈɡɪ.ne.ʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [o.le.aˈd͡ʒiː.ne.us]^[1]

Forms

oleāgineus (feminine oleāginea, neuter oleāgineum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Also spelled oliāgineus, and Lewis & Short also give oleāginius and oleāginus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from olea “olive tree” or oleum “olive oil”, with the suffix ⟨-āgineus⟩, probably taken from words like ⟨farrāgineus⟩.^[2][4][1] ⟨oleum⟩ is from Ancient Greek ἔλαιον (élaion, “olive oil”), and ⟨olea⟩ from Ancient Greek ἐλαία (elaía, “olive tree”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest source is Cato's Dē agrī cultūrā.^[5][6] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant of or belonging to an olive tree, as in Cato and Vitruvius, for the classical oleārius, and Gaffiot adds resembling an olive and olive-coloured, in Pliny.^[2][3][6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.^[6][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny uses it of likeness to an olive.^[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of an olive tree.^[2]
2. Like an olive; olive-coloured.^[6]

Word family

• oleāginōsus

Related words

• olea
• oleum
• oleārius

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.