ver

Forms

vēr n (genitive vēris); third declension^[1] Columella has the ablative vērī.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *wesor, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wésr̥ (“spring”), a neuter with an ⟨r⟩/⟨n⟩ stem.^[4][1][5] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἔαρ (éar, “spring”), Old Norse vár (“spring”), Lithuanian vasara (“summer”) and Old Church Slavonic весна (vesna, “spring”).^[4][2] De Vaan explains the Latin form from an old paradigm ⟨*wesr̥⟩, genitive ⟨*wesnos⟩, which would have given ⟨*veror⟩, ⟨*vēnos⟩: the genitive was remade as ⟨vēris⟩, and its long ⟨ē⟩ spread to the nominative.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.^[4][5] Cato says some farm work should be done per vēr, “in spring”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the season of spring, and figuratively the springtime of life, youth, as Catullus' flowering age that was spending its spring.^[2] Vēr sacrum, the “sacred spring”, was an old Italian vow made in times of disaster to sacrifice to a god everything born in the following spring, Sisenna tells of the Sabines who vowed one.^[2][4]

Church Latin glosses it “spring”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[4][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of farm work in spring.^[2][5]
• 120–67 BC – Sisenna of a vēr sacrum.^[2][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of the spring of life.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Spring (the season).^[2][1][6]
2. (figuratively) The springtime of life, youth.^[2]
3. vēr sacrum: a vow to sacrifice everything born in the coming spring.^[2][4]

Related words

• vernus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson