puniceus

Pronunciation

• Classical: [puːˈnɪ.ke.ʊs]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [puˈniː.t͡ʃe.us]^[1]

Forms

pūniceus (feminine pūnicea, neuter pūniceum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled poeniceus and phoenīceus.^[2][3]

Etymology

The OLD takes it as borrowed from Ancient Greek φοινίκεος (phoiníkeos, “purple-red”) in an adapted form.^[2] Wiktionary and Köbler derive it from ⟨pūnicus⟩, the adjective of ⟨Poenus⟩ “Carthaginian”, with the suffix -eus.^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius has a red topsail in his poem on the Punic War.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a brilliant red, scarlet or crimson: Virgil uses it of ribbons, rose beds and the wheels of Dawn's chariot, Horace of the rose, Ovid of saffron and of blood.^[5][2] Church Latin glosses it reddish.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of a red topsail.^[5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of ribbons and roses.^[5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of saffron and blood.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Bright red, scarlet, crimson, purple-red.^[2][5][1]

Usage notes

The OLD has a second Pūniceus, Carthaginian, Punic;^[2] Pūniceum pōmum is the pomegranate.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson