platanus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpɫa.ta.nʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈplaː.ta.nus]^[1]

Forms

platanus f (genitive platanī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πλάτανος (plátanos, “plane tree”), which Köbler connects with πλατύς (platús, “broad”).^[2][1][3] The ⟨Culex⟩ has a fourth-declension plural ⟨platanūs⟩.^[2][4] Isidore says it is named from the breadth of its leaves.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cato, whom he dates 234–149 BC.^[3] Cicero mentions the plane tree in verse.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant the oriental plane tree, Platanus orientalis, as Cicero's sub platanō umbriferā “under a shady plane”, Virgil's barren planes, and in Pliny the Elder.^[2][4][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a plane tree.^[7] It survives in Italian platano, French platane and plane, and Romanian paltin, and was borrowed into Spanish as plátano.^[1]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.^[3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a shady plane tree.^[4][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of barren planes.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The oriental plane tree.^[2]

Word family

• platanīnus

Related words

• English plane

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson