cereus Latin · revision 32850

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=end of 2nd/beginning of 1st century BC, Titinius|origins=la cēra}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkeː.re.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈt͡ʃɛː.re.us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cēreus''' (feminine cērea, neuter cēreum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|cēra|-eus|t1=wax]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan thinks [[m|la|cēra]] probably a loanword from an unknown language, or borrowed directly from [[grc|κηρός|tr=kērós|t=wax]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest quotation is from the comic poet Titinius, of ploughing a waxen field with a bone, that is, writing on a wax tablet.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler dates it from Cicero.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is made of wax: Cicero uses it, Horace of waxen images, and Virgil the waxen camps of bees.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Like wax it is soft or pliant: Horace's beardless youth is like wax to be bent into vice.^(OLD 2012) Of colour it is wax-yellow, as Virgil's plums, and of texture waxen, as arms praised in an ode of Horace.^(OLD 2012) As a noun, a wax taper, it is the present that clients sent their patrons at the Saturnalia, according to Varro and Martial.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin uses the noun for a wax candle.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * end of 2nd/beginning of 1st century BC – Titinius of a wax tablet.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of tapers given at the Saturnalia.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of wax-yellow plums.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of a youth pliant to vice.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Made of [[m|en|wax]], waxen.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Soft, delicate; [[m|en|pliant]], easily swayed.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Wax-coloured, pale yellow; like wax in texture.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A wax [[m|en|taper]], [[m|en|candle]], especially one sent to a patron at the Saturnalia.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cēreolus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cera|alt=cēra]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}