Etymologically
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quernus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkʷɛr.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkʷɛr.nus][1]

Forms

quernus (feminine querna, neuter quernum); first/second-declension adjective[1] The longer form querneus is found in Cato, Columella, Propertius and Suetonius;[2][3] Georges treats quernus as a by-form of it.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin quercus (“oak”) + -nus.[4][1] Wiktionary explains it from an older ⟨*kʷerknos⟩, which became ⟨*kʷernos⟩ by the regular loss of a stop between a liquid and /n/.[1] De Vaan traces the noun to Proto-Italic *kwerkwu/o- and Proto-Indo-European *perkw-o/u- (“kind of oak”), with the regular Italo-Celtic assimilation of /p/ to the following /kʷ/; he compares Old High German fereheih (“kind of oak”) and, though others separate it, Old English furh (“fir-tree”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short and Georges cite it first from Virgil's quernas glandes, acorns.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

It means of or belonging to the oak, oaken, chiefly in poetry.[4][6] Virgil also has vimen quernum, oak twigs, and Ovid an oak stake.[6] It can mean consisting of oak trees, as in Pliny the Elder's quernum nemus, an oak grove, and Sidonius' querna acernaque nemora; and made of oak wood or oak leaves, as in Pliny's oak axles and in Ovid's querna corona, a wreath of oak leaves.[4][2][6]

In British medieval Latin it means of an oak or made of oak wood, and the neuter quernum glosses Old English acleaf, oak leaf, in Ælfric's glossary.[7]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil has quernas glandes.[6][2][8]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has querna corona.[4][6][8]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder has an oak grove and oak axles.[4][8]
  • c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius has querna acernaque nemora.[2][8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of the oak, oaken.[4][6][7]
  2. Consisting of oak trees.[4][2]
  3. Made of oak wood or of oak leaves;[4][6] querna corona, a wreath of oak leaves.[4][6]
  4. (Medieval Latin, neuter as a noun) An oak leaf.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c 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
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de