antrum Latin · revision 30940

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=grc ἄντρον}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈan.trũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈan.trum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''antrum''' ''n'' (genitive antrī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἄντρον|tr=ántron|t=cave]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)^(Etymonline) The Greek word is of uncertain origin, perhaps from a pre-Greek language.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Lewis and Short quote Virgil's ''Eclogues'', ''succēdere antrō'', “to go into the cave”, and find the word almost only in poetry.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a cave or grotto, often as a cool shelter, as the home of gods and oracles, as the Sibyl's vast cave in Virgil, and as a beasts' den (Ovid's lions).^(OLD 2012) Propertius uses it of a leafy dell, and Petronius of a cavity in the ground;^(OLD 2012) ''ōris antrum'' is the mouth's cavity.^(OLD 2012) Lucan has it of a burial vault, where Alexander lies.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “cave, den”.^(Stelten 1995) English ''antrum'' (1727), a cavity in the body, is a medical use of it.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of caves and the Sibyl's grotto.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of a leafy dell.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of lions' dens.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1727 – English medical [[m|en|antrum]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|cave]], cavern, [[m|en|grotto]]; a den.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A leafy hollow, dell.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A hollow, cavity.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A burial vault, [[m|en|tomb]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[spēlunca]]

+ * [[specus]]

+ * [[en|antrum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein treats [[specus]] and [[caverna]], hollows below or level with the ground, as kinds of ''antrum'', and [[spēlunca]] as a cave opening into a mountain.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}