robur

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈroː.bʊr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈrɔː.bur]^[1]

Forms

rōbur n (genitive rōboris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *rouþos (“red substance”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reudʰ-os (“redness”), from the root *h₁rewdʰ- “red” of ruber, named for the reddish heartwood of the oak.^[2][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἔρευθος (éreuthos, “redness”).^[2] The /ō/ for /ū/ shows that it was taken from a rural dialect around Rome.^[2] Cato has the older nominative rōbus, and the nominative in /-ur/ was made after iecur.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato, who has the old form rōbus.^[2][3] Köbler dates it from Ennius.^[4] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was an oak, and the solid heartwood of an oak or other tree, then any hard timber, as Virgil's split oak and the Rōbur, the lowest dungeon of the Tullianum prison.^[3][5] From the hardness of oak it meant firmness and strength of material things, physical strength and vigour, and military strength, the best troops, as Cicero says Caesar's army had more strength through long service.^[3] Isidore says rōbur was used of whatever is firmest in any material.^[6]

Döderlein contrasts vīs and rōbur, inner strength, with potentia and potestās, outer power.^[7] It survives in Italian rovere and Spanish roble “oak”, and rōbustus “as strong as oak” gave English robust in the 1540s and corrōborāre gave English corroborate.^[1][8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato has the old form rōbus.^[3][4]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius speaks of the strength of stone.^[3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of split oak.^[3][4]
• 1540s – English robust is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An oak tree.^[3]
2. The heartwood, trunk (of a tree); hard timber, oak.^[3]
3. Firmness, solidity.^[3]
4. Physical strength, vigour.^[3]
5. Military strength; the best troops.^[3][5]
6. (Medieval Latin) Validity.^[9]

Word family

• rōborārium
• roboratus
• rōborētum
• rōboreus
• rōborō
• roborosus
• rōburneus
• rōbustus
• corrōborō
• rōborascō
• rōborātiō
• rōbustē

Related words

• rōbus
• ruber
• quercus
• English robust
• English corroborate

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes vīs and rōbur (inner strength) from potentia, potestās and potentātus (outward power over people).^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
7. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill