scrofa

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈskroː.fa]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈskrɔː.fa]^[1]

Forms

scrōfa f (genitive scrōfae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2] De Vaan takes it as a non-Roman dialect form Proto-Italic *skrof-ā- (“scratcher, digger”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *skrobʰ- of scrobis “ditch”, since pigs are often named from the way they root for food, as with porcus.^[3][1] He rejects Walde and Hofmann's borrowing from Ancient Greek γρομφάς (gromphás, “old sow”), which does not explain the Latin form and may not be old enough.^[3][4] If it is a borrowing, the Romans may have taken a short /o/ as ō.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a sow, especially a breeding sow, a word of farming writers such as Varro and Columella and of Juvenal.^[2][5] Scrōfa was also a Roman cognomen, as of Tremelius Scrofa, the writer on agriculture who appears in Varro.^[2][6] Its diminutive plural scrōfulae meant swellings of the glands, and Gaffiot records scrōfae in that sense too.^[6]

In Medieval Latin it was a siege engine for undermining walls.^[7] Its descendants include Italian scrofa and Romanian scroafă, and French écrou “nut of a screw”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of breeding sows.^[5][4]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it.^[5][4]
• Middle Ages – It names a siege engine.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sow, especially a breeding sow.^[2]
2. (plural) Swellings of the glands, scrofula.^[6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A siege engine for undermining walls.^[7]

Word family

• scrōfīnus
• scrōfipascus
• scrōfulae

Related words

• porcus
• scrobis
• sūs
• English scrofula

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill