suber

Forms

sūber n (genitive sūberis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It has no etymology.^[2][3] Walde–Hofmann proposed a borrowing from Ancient Greek σῦφαρ (sûphar, “wrinkled skin”), which de Vaan finds doubtful because of the different meaning; he suggests that Latin and Greek might have borrowed a word with a common core of meaning from a third language.^[2][4] Wiktionary mentions a disputed hypothesis that connects it with Germanic words meaning “to be silent”, as if cork were stripped without harming the tree.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Virgil,^[2][4] who uses it in the Aeneid both for the cork tree and for cork.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Columella and Pliny the Elder use it of the cork oak and its bark,^[5] and Persius uses it of a thick bark like that of the cork tree.^[5] The derivative sūberiēs “cork oak” is attested earlier, from Lucilius on.^[2]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for the cork tree and for cork.^[2][5][4]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of the cork oak.^[5][4]
• 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of a thick bark.^[5][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the tree.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The cork oak, Quercus suber.^[3][5]
2. Cork, the thick spongy outer bark of this tree.^[3][5]

Word family

• sūbereus
• sūberiēs
• suberinus
• sūbernus

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press