pirum Latin · revision 33199

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpɪ.rũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpiː.rum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pirum''' ''n'' (genitive pirī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Old editions often spell it ''pyr-''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ De Vaan takes it as a loanword from a Mediterranean language, shared with [[grc|ἄπιον|tr=ápion|t=pear]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) Steinbauer derived both from [[ine-pro|*h₂pis-o-]], and the TLL also sets up one form ⟨*a₂piso-⟩, but de Vaan objects that this does not explain Latin ⟨piru-⟩ rather than ⟨*peru-⟩ and that such a root would be unusual.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it first,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) in the ''Poenulus''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the pear, the fruit of [[m|la|pirus]], the pear tree, which Cato names.^(de Vaan 2008) Cato and Varro deal with pears in their books on farming, and Columella and Pliny the Elder after them.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace has grafted pears plucked from the tree, and Lewis & Short also cite Virgil and Juvenal.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the word.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato, of pears on the farm.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace, of grafted pears.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder has the word.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

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

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pirācium]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pirus]]

+ * [[mālum#2]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}