echinus Latin · revision 33281

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=grc ἐχῖνος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɛˈkʰiː.nʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [eˈkiː.nus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''echīnus''' ''m'' (genitive echīnī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The spellings ''echinnus'' and ''ecinus'' occur in manuscripts.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἐχῖνος|tr=ekhînos|t=hedgehog, sea urchin]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler connects the Greek word with the Indo-European word for “snake”, as a name of the snake-eater.^(Köbler 2010)^(Pokorny 1959)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Plautus,^(Köbler 2010) who has ''echinos … captamus'', “we catch sea urchins”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is above all the edible sea urchin, in Plautus, Afranius, Horace and Pliny the Elder;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short also give the land hedgehog.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Calpurnius Siculus uses it of the prickly husk of the chestnut.^(OLD 2012) Horace has it among cheap tableware, perhaps a salt cellar,^(OLD 2012) and Wiktionary gives a rinsing bowl, especially of copper.^(Wiktionary) In architecture Vitruvius uses it of the convex moulding below the abacus of a capital.^(OLD 2012) English [[m|en|echinus]] keeps the architectural and zoological senses.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of sea urchins.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace, of an article of tableware.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius, of the moulding of a capital.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 2nd third of the 1st century AD – Calpurnius Siculus, of the husk of the chestnut.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|sea urchin]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) a [[m|en|hedgehog]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The prickly husk of a [[m|en|chestnut]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An article of tableware, perhaps a salt cellar;^(OLD 2012) a rinsing bowl.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(architecture)'' The convex [[m|en|moulding]] below the abacus of a capital.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[echinātus]]

+ * [[echīnomētrae]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ērināceus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}