acanthus Latin · revision 33361

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=grc ἄκανθος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [aˈkan.tʰʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [aˈkan.tus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''acanthus''' ''m'' (genitive acanthī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The Greek nominative ''acanthos'' also occurs, and manuscripts have spellings with ''ach-''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἄκανθος|tr=ákanthos|t=acanthus, bear's-foot]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Köbler 2010) The Greek name is usually explained from [[m|grc|ἀκή|tr=akḗ|t=point, thorn]] and [[m|grc|ἄνθος|tr=ánthos|t=flower]],^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) and Köbler sets it beside [[m|grc|ἄκανθα|tr=ákantha|t=thorn, prickle]] and the root [[ine-pro|*h₂ek̑-|t=sharp]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler and the OLD record it from Virgil,^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012) who in the ''Eclogues'' describes cups with soft acanthus twined round their handles: ''molli circum est ansas amplexus acantho''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the plant bear's-foot, ''Acanthus mollis'', named by Virgil and Pliny the Elder;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) Pliny distinguishes a prickly and a curled kind.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) Its leaf was a favourite motif in carving and embroidery, as on Virgil's cups, and Virgil also calls the flower saffron-coloured.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Pliny the Younger has it in his garden, and Virgil and Calpurnius have its leaves and flowers strewn on the ground on a festive day.^(TLL)

+

+ As a feminine it is also a thorny evergreen tree of Egypt, the gum arabic tree, whose berries Virgil mentions in the ''Georgics'';^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Velleius Paterculus uses it for the wood of this tree, of which Caesar's Pontic triumph was furnished.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, of the plant, of acanthus carving and of the Egyptian tree.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius Paterculus, of acacia wood.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of its two kinds.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1660s – English borrows it as [[m|en|acanthus]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|bear's-foot|alt=Bear's-foot]], bear's-breech, a plant of the genus ''Acanthus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The acanthus leaf as an ornament in carving or embroidery.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(feminine)'' The gum arabic tree, an [[m|en|acacia]] of Egypt; its wood.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|acanthus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Acanthus'', feminine, is also the name of a town in Chalcidice in Macedonia, found in Livy, Mela and Pliny the Elder.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}