pyra

Forms

pyra f (genitive pyrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πυρά (purá, “funeral pyre”),^[2][1][3] from πῦρ (pûr, “fire”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is the Bellum Africum,^[3] and Virgil has it in the Aeneid.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a funeral pile, a pyre, and also a similar pile for offerings to the gods of the underworld.^[2] Lewis & Short note that the native Latin word is rogus.^[4] Ovid uses it too, and the Vulgate has it in Ezekiel.^[4] In Acts the Vulgate uses it for a fire.^[4] Church Latin has “pyre, large fire”.^[5]

Timeline

• 1st century BC – The Bellum Africum, of a pyre.^[3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil, of funeral pyres.^[4][3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of a pyre.^[4][3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate, of a pyre and of a fire.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A funeral pile, pyre;^[2][4][1] a pile for offerings to the gods of the underworld.^[2]
2. (Late Latin) A fire.^[4][5]

Word family

• pyrula

Related words

• rogus
• bustum

Usage notes

With a capital, Pyra was the place on Mount Oeta where Hercules was said to have burned himself, as Livy mentions.^[4]

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 f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson