Etymologically
Log in

pluvia

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 19:04. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɫʊ.wi.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpluː.vi.a][1]

Forms

pluvia f (genitive pluviae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pluvius (“rainy”), its feminine used as a noun, with aqua (“water”) or tempestās (“weather”) understood.[2][3][1] De Vaan derives the adjective from pluō (“to rain”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *plow-e/o- (“to rain”) and Proto-Indo-European *pleu-e/o- (“to swim, float”), with a metaphorical shift from floating to pouring rain.[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek πλέω (pléō, “to sail, swim”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates the noun from Cato;[4] Köbler dates it from the Twelve Tables.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a fall of rain, rain: Cicero writes that he fears the rains, Virgil speaks of gentle and of heavy rains, and Juvenal of sheltering from the rain.[2][3] Servius and Isidore distinguish storm clouds, sudden and violent showers, from pluviae, slow and steady rain.[6] Döderlein explains that it is rain as a beneficial natural event that the thirsty ground absorbs, whereas imber and nimbus are unfriendly downpours that spoil fine weather.[7] The Vulgate uses it in the Book of Job, and later it also means a shower of something.[3][1] Church Latin keeps the sense rain.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it.[5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses the noun.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of fearing the rains.[3][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of gentle and heavy rains.[3][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of drops of rain.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Rain, a fall of rain.[2][3][8][1]
  2. (Late Latin) A shower of something.[1][3]

Word family

  • pluviālis
  • pluviāticus
  • pluviātilis
  • pluviōsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson