anser Latin · revision 32043

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *ǵʰh₂éns}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈãː.sɛr]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ānser''' ''m'' (genitive ānseris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is usually masculine, feminine in Varro and Columella.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ The ''Appendix Probi'' censures the form ''ansar''.^(Appendix Probi)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*χans-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*ǵʰh₂éns|t=goose]].^(de Vaan 2008) The initial /h/ was lost, and the long /ā/ is regular before ⟨ns⟩;^(de Vaan 2008) Leumann explains the ⟨-er-⟩ of the oblique cases from an accusative ⟨*hānerem⟩ remade after the genitive.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[sga|géiss|t=swan]], [[sa|हंस|tr=haṁsá-|t=goose]], [[grc|χήν|tr=khḗn|t=goose]], [[lt|žąsìs|t=goose]], [[goh|gans|t=goose]] and [[ang|gōs|t=goose]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Isidore of Seville thought the name came from [[m|la|anas|t=duck]], by derivation or because both birds swim.^(Isidore)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008) who has a man who scares people away with his shouting as geese are scared off the grain.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the goose, sacred to Juno, whose cackling saved the Capitol in the Gallic war;^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short note the honour in which the Romans held it.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Isidore of Seville says no animal scents a man as the goose does, which is why its cry betrayed the Gauls climbing the Capitol.^(Isidore) Cato gives instructions for fattening geese and Varro describes large flocks kept on villas.^(TLL) ''Anser masculus'' is the gander, and the Amyclaean goose in the ''Ciris'' is the swan of Leda.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder says that in Germany the small white geese are called ''gantae''.^(TLL)

+

+ The word did not pass into the Romance languages, where ''auca'' replaced it.^(TLL) In British medieval Latin it also named the gannet, in the phrase ''anser Bassanus''.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of geese scared from the grain.^(TLL)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato on fattening geese.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy tells how the geese saved the Capitol.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder on the ''gantae'' of Germany.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the name from ''anas''.^(Isidore)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|goose]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) ''anser masculus'', a [[m|en|gander]];^(OLD 2012) ''Amyclaeus anser'', the swan.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' ''anser Bassanus'', the [[m|en|gannet]].^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[anserculus]]

+ * [[ānserīnus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[anas]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Anser'' was also a Roman cognomen, borne by a poet of Virgil's time whom Ovid calls more wanton than Cinna;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Servius thought Virgil alludes to him in the ninth Eclogue.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}