Etymologically
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pisum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɪ.sũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpiː.s̬um][1]

Forms

pisum n (genitive pisī); second declension[1] Late Latin also has a feminine pīsa (Apicius, Palladius) and, rarely, a masculine pisus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πίσον (píson, “pea”).[4][3][1] The TLL notes that the vowel of the Greek word is short, as the Romance forms also show, and that a word borrowed in early times ought to have undergone rhotacism of its /s/; it suggests that pirum (“pear”) may have prevented this.[3] The Greek word itself has no known source: Köbler calls it a loanword from an unknown language,[5] and Etymonline reports Klein's suggestion of Thracian or Phrygian.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro is the first to use it, listing it among the things pigeons like to eat.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It names the pea plant and, usually as a collective singular, its seeds: Celsus and Columella have it,[4] and in Petronius a doorkeeper shells peas in a silver dish (in lance argentea pisum purgabat).[4] Pliny the Elder describes the plant.[4][2]

From Apicius and Palladius on, and in Diocletian's edict, a feminine pisa appears beside it.[2][3] The Romance forms continue it, among them French pois and, in Tuscany, Italian peso,[3] and through Old English pise it became English pea.[6]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro mentions peas as pigeons' food.[4][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it.[4][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella measures seed peas by the modius.[4][5]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius' doorkeeper shells peas.[4][5]
  • 4th century AD – Apicius uses the feminine pisa.[2][3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The pea plant, probably the field pea (Pisum arvense).[4][2]
  2. Its seeds, peas (usually as a collective singular).[4][7]
  • English pea

Usage notes

The OLD marks the ⟨i⟩ long (pīsum), while the TLL takes it as short, as in Greek and Romance.[4][3] Isidore of Seville explained pisa from pensare “to weigh”, as if small amounts of gold were weighed with it.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn