nectar Latin · revision 32945

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=grc νέκταρ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈnɛk.tar]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈnɛk.tar]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''nectar''' ''n sg'' (genitive nectaris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|νέκταρ|tr=néktar|t=drink of the gods]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) Köbler calls the further origin of the Greek word unexplained;^(Köbler 2010) Wiktionary and Etymonline take it, perhaps, as an old poetic compound of [[ine-pro|*neḱ-|t=death, to perish]] and [[ine-pro|*terh₂-|t=to overcome]], “overcoming death”.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it from Varro, Lucretius and Cicero on, mostly in the poets.^(TLL) The OLD's first quotation is from Varro's ''Menippean Satires'', which names ambrosia and nectar together.^(OLD 2012) Festus explains it as the Greek word for the drink of the gods.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the drink of the gods: Cicero doubts that the gods delight in ambrosia or nectar, and Ovid has ambrosia mixed with sweet nectar touch a mortal's mouth and make him a god.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) It is a type of sweetness, as Lucretius' flower of nard breathing nectar to the nostrils.^(OLD 2012) The poets give the name to other sweet liquids: Virgil to new wine and to the honey bees store in their cells, Ovid to milk in the udder.^(OLD 2012) The TLL notes that it is used only in the singular.^(TLL) Late glossaries explain it as honey, wine, a sweet odour, sweetness, and as the drink of the angels.^(TLL) British Medieval Latin uses it of the sweet fluid of plants and of honey, and figuratively.^(DMLBS) English borrowed ''nectar'' in the 1550s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro names ambrosia and nectar together.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the scent of nard.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the drink of the gods.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of wine and of honey.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 1550s – English ''nectar''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The drink of the gods, [[m|en|nectar]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) a type of sweetness.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(poetic)'' Any sweet liquid: [[m|en|wine]], [[m|en|honey]], milk.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The sweet fluid of plants; honey.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nectareus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ambrosia]]

+ * [[en|nectar]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}