vervex

Forms

vervēx m (genitive vervēcis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled ⟨verbex⟩, in Varro and inscriptions.^[2][3] The form ⟨berbex⟩, by assimilation, is found in Petronius.^[2]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[4][1][5] It is perhaps inherited from Proto-Italic *werw-ē-, from Proto-Indo-European *ueru-.^[4]

It has long been connected with the word for “lamb”, *urh₁-en- (whence Ancient Greek ἀρήν (arḗn)), as the OLD does,^[2][4][1] but de Vaan finds no way of deriving it: every other language has the zero grade of that root, which would not give Latin ⟨verv-⟩.^[4] He suggests instead a link with εἶρος (eîros, “wool”), from *u̯eru̯os-, as “the male woolly one”, formed on the model of verrēs (“boar”); the ⟨-k-⟩ suffix would be a later Latin addition.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[4][5] for a wether and already as a term of abuse: in the Casina a speaker calls the lazy “old wethers”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides the animal, mentioned by Varro and Cicero,^[3] it was used for a dull, stupid person, a “muttonhead”: Plautus has it as an insult, Petronius in the form berbex, and Juvenal speaks of a country of muttonheads with thick air.^[2][3] Seneca reports, after Chrysippus, a man offended at being called a “sea wether”, an allusion the OLD calls obscure.^[2]

In medieval Latin it still meant a wether or ram,^[6] and Guy of Amiens used it for a battering ram.^[6] It survives in brebis and berbice.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a wether and as an insult.^[2][3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro mentions it with the spelling verbex.^[2][5]
• before 66 AD – Petronius has berbex as an insult.^[2][5]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal speaks of a country of muttonheads.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A castrated ram, a wether.^[2][3]
2. (term of abuse) A stupid, sluggish person, a blockhead.^[2][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A battering ram.^[6]

Word family

• vervēceus
• vervēcīnus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 c 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