pyra
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Pronunciation
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
- A funeral pile, pyre;[2][4][1] a pile for offerings to the gods of the underworld.[2]
- (Late Latin) A fire.[4][5]
Word family
- pyrula
Related words
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
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson