myrtus Latin · revision 31709
19 Oct 2026, 16:38 by bogdan “Latin la10k batch la75v b04” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=grc μύρτος}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * Classical: [ˈmyr.tʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈmir.tus]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''myrtus''' ''f'' (genitive myrtī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+ It is also spelled ''murtus'' and ''mirtus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ Virgil and Horace have a fourth-declension nominative plural ''myrtūs''.^(OLD 2012)
+ In Cato it is apparently masculine.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|grc|μύρτος|tr=múrtos|t=myrtle]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder notes that the tree keeps its Greek name.^(TLL) Isidore of Seville derived it from [[m|la|mare|t=sea]], because it grows best on the shore.^(Isidore)^(TLL)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest examples are in Cato's ''De agri cultura'', where the word appears to be masculine.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It is the myrtle tree and its foliage, as in Horace's “to bind the head with green myrtle”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In poetry it is also a spear of myrtle wood, as the shepherd's spear tipped with a point in Virgil.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 234–149 BC – Cato in his work on farming.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of a spear of myrtle wood.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of myrtle wreaths.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder notes the Greek name.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville derives it from the sea.^(Isidore)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # The [[m|en|myrtle]] tree; its foliage.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A [[m|en|spear]] of myrtle wood.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[myrtaceus]]
+ * [[myrtatus]]
+ * [[myrtētum]]
+ * [[myrteus]]
+ * [[myrtinus]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[myrtum]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}