Etymologically
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈweːr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈvɛr][1]

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]
  • 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