Etymologically
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palumbes

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [paˈɫʊm.beːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [paˈlum.bes][1]

Forms

palumbēs m or f (genitive palumbis); third declension[1] Also palumbis, -is, and the masculine palumbus, -ī in Cato, Columella and Martial.[2][3] Celsus has a feminine palumba, -ae.[3] Palumbēs is masculine or feminine;[4] Virgil and Horace use it as feminine.[4]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[5][1] The OLD and de Vaan take the first part from the root of palleō “to be pale”, so that the bird would be named after its grey colour, with the same ending as columba.[2][5][6] The comparison rests on Ancient Greek πέλεια (péleia, “wild pigeon”), which goes with a Greek stem for “grey”, and Old Prussian poalis (“pigeon”).[5][6] Wiktionary similarly suggests a derivative of Proto-Italic *palwos, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥H-wo- (“dark-coloured, grey”),[1] and Köbler compares Pokorny's *pel- (“pale, grey”) with a question mark.[7] The TLL notes that the variation of its declension is unclear.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[5][7] where it is already used figuratively: in the Bacchides two women are told duae unum expetitis palumbem, “you two are after one pigeon”, that is, the same lover.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The bird is the wood pigeon or ring dove,[2][3] named by Lucilius and Varro and in Virgil's Eclogues (raucae, tua cura, palumbes, “the hoarse wood pigeons, your delight”).[3][4] In Plautus it also means a dupe, and the phrase palumbem ad aream adducere, to lead the pigeon to the threshing floor, meant to give someone a good opportunity.[2][3][4] Suetonius tells of a pun on a gladiator called Palumbus.[3]

Isidore of Seville calls it a chaste bird, which goes alone once it has lost its mate.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it figuratively for a dupe or a lover sought after.[2][7]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses the form palumbus.[5][3][7]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius names the bird.[3][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil calls the wood pigeons hoarse.[3][7]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville calls it a chaste bird.[8][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wood pigeon, a ring dove.[2][3][1]
  2. (figurative) A dupe, a gull; also a lover sought after;[2][3][4] palumbem ad aream adducere, to give someone a good opportunity.[2][3][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).