pontus Latin · revision 30774

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=204–169 BC, Ennius|origins=grc πόντος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpɔn.tʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɔn.tus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pontus''' ''m'' (genitive pontī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Servius notes that Latin does not use it in the plural.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|πόντος|tr=póntos|t=sea]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler and Etymonline connect the Greek word with [[ine-pro|*pent-|t=to tread, go]], the root of [[m|la|pōns|t=bridge]].^(Köbler 2010)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Ennius: ''mulserat hūc nāvem … pontus'', “the sea had drawn the ship here”.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler first records it in Virgil.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Pontus'' is a poetic word for the sea (Lucretius, Virgil: ''pontus Libyae''), and also a wave.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) Döderlein says that ''aequor'', ''pelagus'' and ''pontus'' name the sea with reference to its extent, while ''mare'' is the sea as a mass of water.^(Döderlein 1874) As a name, ''Pontus'' (also ''Pontus Euxīnus'') is the Black Sea (Cicero), the lands round it (Ovid, in exile: ''ut sumus in Pontō''), the kingdom of Mithridates, and the Roman province of Bithynia and Pontus.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “sea, ocean, the deep”.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|Pontus]] names the region on the Black Sea.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius: ''mulserat hūc nāvem … pontus''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of rivers flowing into the ''Pontus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil: ''pontus Libyae''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid: ''ut sumus in Pontō''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(poetic)'' The [[m|en|sea]], the deep.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A wave.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Proper noun===

+ # ''Pontus'', the [[m|en|Black Sea]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Pontus'', the region round the Black Sea; the kingdom and Roman province of [[m|en|Pontus]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pontivagus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pons]]

+ * [[mare]]

+ * [[pelagus]]

+ * [[aequor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}