Etymologically
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prunum

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpruː.nũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpruː.num][1]

Forms

prūnum n (genitive prūnī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek προῦμνον (proûmnon, “plum”), with a dissimilation of the consonants.[2][1][3][4] Etymonline says the Greek word is probably, like the tree, from a language of Asia Minor.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Cato, whom he dates 234–149 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a plum: Virgil has waxy plums, cērea prūna, and Columella and Pliny the Elder name kinds, and Virgil also used it for the sloe.[6][7]

British Medieval Latin had prūnum Damascēnum, the damson, and distinguished fresh and dried plums.[8] Its plural prūna, taken as a feminine singular, gave Italian pruna, Romanian prună and Old French prune.[1][4] English prune came from French in the mid-14th century, first “a plum”, and Old English plūme, the source of English plum, is an earlier Germanic borrowing of Vulgar Latin *prūna.[4][5]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.[5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil has cērea prūna.[6][5]
  • mid-14th century – English prune is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A plum.[2]
  2. A sloe.[7]

Word family

  • prūnulum
  • nuciprūnum
  • prūnus
  • English prune
  • English plum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ 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