bulbus Latin · revision 33463

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈbʊɫ.bʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈbul.bus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bulbus''' ''m'' (genitive bulbī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A Greek form ''bulbos'' also occurs.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ Manuscripts write it ''vulvus'', ''volvus'' or ''bulvus''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|βολβός|tr=bolbós|t=bulbous plant]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) Isidore explained the form ⟨volvus⟩ as named from its rolling, round root.^(Isidore|17.9.88)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL and Köbler record it from Plautus on;^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) the earliest quotation in the OLD is Cato's ''bulbōs Megaricōs'', Megarian onions.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means a bulb or bulbous root, as of the narcissus in Ovid,^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) and an edible bulb, especially the onion, of which the Megarian kind was best known.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder uses it very often,^(TLL) and the agricultural writers use it also of the swollen roots of the reed and the crocus.^(TLL) Ecclesiastical Latin kept the sense “onion”.^(Stelten 1995) English took ''bulb'' in the 1560s, through French, in the sense “onion”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato names Megarian bulbs.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has narcissus bulbs.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it often.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains it.^(Isidore|17.9.88)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1560s – English borrows ''bulb'' through French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|bulb]], bulbous root.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # An edible bulb, especially an [[m|en|onion]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bulbāceus]]

+ * [[bulbōsus]]

+ * [[bulbulus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|bulb]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Bulbus'' was also a Roman family name of the Atilii;^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero makes a pun on it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}