Etymologically
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racemus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [raˈkeː.mʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [raˈt͡ʃɛː.mus][1]

Forms

racēmus m (genitive racēmī); second declension[1] Gregory of Tours and Gregory the Great write racimus.[2]

Etymology

It is probably a loanword from a Mediterranean language;[3][2][1] the OLD suggests it is pre-Indo-European.[4] Compare Ancient Greek ῥάξ (rháx, “grape”) and ῥώξ (rhṓx, “grape”).[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Furius Bibaculus.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a bunch or cluster of grapes or other fruit:[4] Virgil has the vine bearing clusters, and Ovid, Propertius and Horace use it.[6] Pliny the Elder uses it of the stalk of a cluster, on which grapes and dates hang.[6] In poetry it stands for wine: Ovid tells the river god Achelous that he was once mixed with no grapes.[6] Church Latin has it as cluster.[7] English raceme (1785) is a type of flower cluster; in Middle English the word meant a raisin or currant.[8]

Timeline

  • 1st century BC – Furius Bibaculus.[3][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of clusters on the vine.[6][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of wine.[6][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of the stalk of a cluster.[6][5]
  • 1785 – English raceme, a flower cluster.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bunch or cluster of grapes or other fruit.[4][6][1]
  2. The stalk of a cluster.[6]
  3. (poetic) Wine.[6]

Word family

  • racēmārius
  • racēmātus
  • racēmifer
  • racēmōsus
  • English raceme
  • English raisin

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com