oleaster

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɔ.ɫeˈas.tɛr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [o.leˈas.ter]^[1]

Forms

oleaster m (genitive oleastrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from olea “olive tree” with the suffix -aster, which marks a wild or inferior kind.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero, whom he dates 81–43 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant the wild olive, the oleaster; there is also a neuter oleastrum.^[2] Virgil, Ovid and Pliny the Elder use it, and a glossary renders it with Greek agrielaia.^[4]

Isidore explains that it is so called because its leaves resemble the olive's but are wider; it is a wild, bitter, fruitless tree.^[5] British Medieval Latin used it for the wild olive, distinguishing it from olīva, with reference to Romans 11:17, where the Gentiles are a wild olive grafted onto the tree.^[6] English took oleaster from it.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^[3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it.^[4][3]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains its name.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The wild olive, oleaster.^[2]

Related words

• olea
• olīva
• English oleaster

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ 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