fagus Latin · revision 32722

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=ine-pro *bʰeh₂g-o-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈfaː.ɡʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈfaː.ɡus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fāgus''' ''f'' (genitive fāgī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A nominative and accusative plural ''fāgūs'' occurs in Varro and the ''Culex''.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*fāgo-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*bʰeh₂g-o-|t=oak; beech]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Cognate with [[grc|φηγός|tr=phēgós|t=a kind of oak; acorn]], [[ang|bōc]] and [[ang|bēce]] and [[goh|buohha|t=beech]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) De Vaan notes that some scholars took it for a later loanword, because it is found only in the western languages and names different trees, but since oak and beech are both fruit-bearing trees, the shift is conceivable and the word may be Indo-European after all.^(de Vaan 2008) Lewis & Short think the root meant “to eat”, the tree being named for its edible fruit,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Servius already derived it from the Greek for eating, since men once lived on acorns.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Varro,^(de Vaan 2008) who has the plural ''fāgūs'' and says the Greeks call them by their own word.^(TLL) Köbler dates it from Catullus.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the beech tree: Virgil's ''Eclogues'' open with lying under the cover of a spreading beech, and Caesar, Ovid and Pliny the Elder also name it.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also beechwood: Vitruvius says no axle of Turkey oak or beech lasts long, and Ovid has cups made of beech.^(OLD 2012) In medieval Latin it can mean the right to take firewood from a forest.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro has the plural ''fāgūs''.^(TLL)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of a spreading beech.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of beechwood axles.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|beech]] tree.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|beechwood|alt=Beechwood]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The right to take [[m|en|faggot|alt=faggots]] from a wood.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fāgeus]]

+ * [[fāgum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|beech]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}