Etymologically
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vireo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈwɪ.re.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈviː.re.o][1]

Forms

vireō (present infinitive virēre, perfect active viruī); second conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][3] It is perhaps inherited from Proto-Italic *w(e)is-, a form de Vaan gives with a query.[2] He compares Lithuanian veĩsti (“to breed, rear”), Lithuanian vaĩsius (“fruit”), Old Prussian wēisin (“fruit”), Old Norse vísir (“sprout”), Old English wīse (“sprout, stem”) and Old High German wīsa (“meadow”), but doubts that this set, with words for green, multiplying and sprouting, belongs together.[2] Wiktionary reports the LIV's derivation from a stative verb Proto-Indo-European *wis-éh₁-ye-ti, to a root *weys-.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucretius,[2] but the OLD has it already in Plautus' Menaechmi, where someone's eyes are said to be green.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is used of plants showing green growth, as Cicero contrasts evergreens with plants that lose their leaves in winter, and of places green with vegetation, as Lucretius' green fields.[3][4] Figuratively it means to be vigorous or thriving, as Ovid's citadel flourishing with talent, wealth and peace, and of persons to be in the freshness of youth, as Horace's advice to love while one is young and not yet grey.[3] Church Latin glosses it to be green, blooming.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of green eyes.[3][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of green fields.[3][2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of evergreen plants.[3][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a person in the vigour of youth.[3][6]
  • 1834 – The bird name vireo is used in English for an American bird.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. Of plants, to show green growth; of places, to be green, verdant; in general, to be green.[3][4][1]
  2. To be vigorous, thriving; of persons, to be full of youthful vigour.[3][4][1]

Word family

  • praeviridāns
  • virectum
  • virēscō
  • viridis
  • viridō
  • viridulus
  • viror

Usage notes

A noun vireō, -ōnis is a bird in Pliny the Elder, perhaps the greenfinch.[4][1] Etymonline derives it from the verb, and in 1834 Audubon applied it to the American vireo.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com