sorex

Forms

sōrex m (genitive sōricis); third declension^[1] An older form saurex is recorded.^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[4][1] De Vaan considers it probably related to Ancient Greek ὕραξ (húrax, “shrew-mouse”), taking both as reflexes of one loanword.^[4][2] It is often connected instead with the imitative susurrus (“whisper, rustling”), but then the link with the Greek word becomes less direct;^[4][1] Köbler gives Proto-Indo-European *su̯er- (“to whir”).^[5]

Isidore of Seville derived it from rōdō (“to gnaw”), because the animal gnaws and cuts like a saw.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Terence, whose speaker in the Eunuchus complains that he has perished “like a shrew mouse”, by his own giving away (meo indicio miser quasi sorex hodie perii).^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Varro and Columella mention it as a pest, the latter of vines attacked by shrews or mice;^[2] Pliny the Elder describes its hairy ears and reports that its squeak broke off the auspices,^[2] so that its noise was a bad omen.^[6]

In Late and Medieval Latin it came to mean a mouse in general,^[1] and glosses also identify it with the rat;^[7] Aldhelm gives it beside mūs as the Latin for the Greek word for mouse.^[7]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence compares a speaker's undoing to that of a shrew mouse.^[2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro mentions it in his work on agriculture.^[2][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella names shrews among the pests of vines.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder reports that its squeak broke off the auspices.^[2][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville derives it from rōdō.^[3][5]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm equates it with mūs “mouse”.^[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shrew, shrewmouse.^[2][6]
2. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) A mouse; in glosses also a rat.^[1][7]

Word family

• sōricīnus

Related words

• susurrus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d 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