turtur

Forms

turtur m (genitive turturis); third declension^[1] It is masculine, but Pliny the Elder uses it as feminine.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is onomatopoeic, a reduplication imitating the bird's coo, like upupa (“hoopoe”) and murmur (“murmur”).^[4][1][3] Pokorny lists it among sound-imitating words with ⟨t⟩ and ⟨r⟩, beside Ancient Greek τρυγών (trugṓn, “turtle dove”) and τρύζω (trúzō, “to coo”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it several times, in the Mostellaria, the Bacchides and the Poenulus.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

It is the turtle dove, which Varro and Columella discuss in their works on farming,^[2] and which Virgil and Ovid mention in poetry.^[2][3] Turtur marinus, the sea turtle dove, was a stingray.^[7] The bird appears in Ecclesiastical Latin,^[8] and medieval writers in Britain use it of the bird and of its supposed virtues, such as never taking a second mate.^[9] Italian tortora continues it.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in several comedies.^[2][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro writes about keeping turtle doves.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil mentions the bird in the Eclogues.^[2][3][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it as feminine.^[2][3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The turtle dove.^[4][2]
2. turtur marīnus: a stingray.^[7]

Word family

• turturella

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ 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