picea

Forms

picea f (genitive piceae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin piceus (“of pitch”), the feminine of that adjective used as a noun;^[1][2] the OLD derives it directly from pix (“pitch”).^[3] A medieval glossary explains it as a tree from which pitch is made.^[2] The noun for “pitch” goes back to Proto-Italic *pik- and Proto-Indo-European *pik- (“pitch”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Virgil's Georgics,^[5][6][7] and Virgil uses it again in the Aeneid.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries identify the tree differently: the OLD takes it as a spruce, probably the Norway spruce, and Conte as a spruce or red fir,^[3][6] while Lewis & Short and Georges take it as the pitch pine or Scots pine.^[5][8] Ovid mentions it, and Pliny the Elder describes it among the resin-bearing trees.^[5][8]

British medieval writers used it for a resin-bearing tree, pine or spruce; a commentary on the Aeneid took these trees to stand for vices, because of their bitterness and barrenness.^[2] Wiktionary also gives the sense “spruce”.^[1]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil names the tree in the Georgics and the Aeneid.^[5][8][7]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid mentions it in the Metamorphoses and the Heroides.^[5][8][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes it.^[5][8][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spruce, probably the Norway spruce;^[3][6] or the pitch pine, Scots pine.^[5][8]
2. (Medieval Latin) A resin-bearing tree, pine or spruce.^[2]

Related words

• pix

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn