spiraea

Forms

spīraea f (genitive spīraeae); first declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σπειραία (speiraía).^[1][3][2][4] Köbler compares σπεῖρα (speîra, “coil, twist”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder (23/24–79 AD) names it in the Natural History, its only classical source.^[1][3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The OLD, Gaffiot and Conte identify the shrub with ligustrum, privet,^[1][5][6] while Lewis & Short and Georges take it as meadowsweet, the genus that Linnaeus named Spiraea.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder names the shrub.^[1][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shrub, the same as ligustrum, privet.^[1][5][6]
2. According to Lewis & Short and Georges, meadowsweet.^[3][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier