Etymologically
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rubus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈrʊ.bʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈruː.bus][1]

Forms

rubus m (genitive rubī); second declension[1] Prudentius uses it as a feminine.[2]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.[3][1][4] The OLD and Lewis & Short think it probably related to ruber (“red”),[3][2] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *h1rudh-ró- (“red”).[5] Wiktionary takes it from Proto-Italic *wruðos and Proto-Indo-European *wr̥dʰo- (“sweetbriar”), comparing Old English word (“thornbush”) and Albanian hurdhe (“ivy”).[1] Köbler refers it to Pokorny's root *reub- (“to tear”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Propertius,[4] but Lewis & Short already cite Caesar's Gallic War, of hedges thickened with brambles, and Virgil's Eclogues.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the bramble, the prickly blackberry bush,[3][2] named by Caesar, Virgil, Horace, Pliny the Elder and Columella.[2] It is also the fruit of the bramble, the blackberry: Propertius has baskets full of crimson blackberries, and Calpurnius gathering strawberries and blackberries.[3] Wiktionary adds the raspberry.[1] In Church Latin it is a bush or bramble,[6] and Niermeyer gives it as medieval Latin for brushwood.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of hedges with brambles.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, in the Eclogues.[2][4]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius, of blackberries.[3][4]
  • Medieval Latin – Brushwood.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bramble, blackberry bush.[3][2][1]
  2. A blackberry; a raspberry.[3][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Brushwood, a bush.[7][6]

Word family

  • rubēta
  • rubētum

Usage notes

Niermeyer has a separate medieval rubus (also rubbus, rubeus), a dry measure for grain.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill