Etymologically
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tofus

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Forms

tōfus m (genitive tōfī); second declension[1][2] It is also spelled tōphus.[1][3] Köbler also records tūfus and tūffus.[4]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Oscan: de Vaan, Köbler and Wiktionary take it as a loan from a Sabellic (Osco-Umbrian) language because of its ⟨f⟩.[5][4][2] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *tauf-o- with a query and compares Oscan tavffúd, if that word means “tufa”.[5] Wiktionary adds that it may go back to Proto-Italic *tūβos and Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”).[2] The OLD instead derives it, probably, from Etruscan tupi.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is in Virgil's Georgics.[5][3][4]

Semantic evolution

It is a porous rock of volcanic origin, tufa.[1][6] Besides Virgil, Lewis & Short cite it from Ovid, Statius, Vitruvius, Pliny the Elder and Frontinus.[3]

In medieval British sources it is a soft porous stone, and Gervase of Canterbury describes a vault made of stone and light tufa.[7] Lewis & Short give Italian tufo as its continuation,[3] and English tufa (1770) comes from Italian tufa, probably from the Latin word.[8] Köbler traces Old High German tufstein and German Tuff to it.[4]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Georgics.[5][3][4]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it.[3][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it.[3][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it.[3][4]
  • 1770 – English borrows the Italian word as tufa.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Tufa, tuff, a porous rock of volcanic origin.[1][3][2]

Word family

  • tōfāceus
  • tōficius
  • tōfīnus
  • tofosus
  • English tufa

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com