thyrsus Latin · revision 32545

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=81/79–52/50 BC, Catullus|origins=grc θύρσος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈtʰyr.sʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈtir.sus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''thyrsus''' ''m'' (genitive thyrsī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Statius has the accusative plural ''thyrsa''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|θύρσος|tr=thúrsos|t=plant stalk, Bacchic staff]].^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Wiktionary) Köbler, after Frisk, calls the Greek word a loanword of unknown origin, and Etymonline reports that it is considered not to be Greek.^(Köbler 2010)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest quotation is from Catullus, of thyrsi shaken with covered points.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the wand of Bacchus and his followers, tipped with a pine cone or a tuft of ivy or vine leaves, which originally hid a spear point.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lucretius uses it of poetic inspiration: the hope of fame has struck his heart with a sharp thyrsus.^(OLD 2012) Its first meaning is a plant's main stem, as in Pliny the Elder, Suetonius and Columella's lettuce with a white stalk.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Through a Vulgar Latin form *tursus, the word gave Italian [[m|it|torso]], the trunk of a statue, which English borrowed in 1797.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of Bacchic wands.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of poetic inspiration.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella of a lettuce stalk.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1590s – English borrows it.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|thyrsus]], the wand of Bacchus and the Bacchants, tipped with a pine cone or ivy; figuratively, a spur of inspiration.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The main [[m|en|stem]] or [[m|en|stalk]] of a plant.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[thyrsiculus]]

+ * [[thyrsiger]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|thyrsus]]

+ * [[en|torso]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}