alnus Latin · revision 33669

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=itc-pro *alsno-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈaɫ.nʊs]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''alnus''' ''f'' or m (genitive alnī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is usually feminine, sometimes masculine.^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*alsno-|t=alder]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan, following Derksen, takes it to be a non-Indo-European word borrowed separately into Italic, Balto-Slavic and Germanic, as the varying vowels and suffixes there suggest;^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary instead reconstructs [[ine-pro|*h₂élsnos]].^(Wiktionary) Cognate with [[lt|al̃ksnis|t=alder]], [[non|ǫlr|t=alder]], [[ang|alor|t=alder]] and [[goh|elira|t=alder]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Cicero,^(de Vaan 2008) who has “in the shade of those alders”, ''in illis alnorum umbraculis''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler dates it from Catullus.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the alder, which grows in moist places;^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder discusses the tree and its uses in medicine.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In poetry it is anything made of alderwood:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) a plank of a ship or bridge in Lucan, and especially a boat, since alder was much used in shipbuilding;^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Virgil says that rivers then first felt hollowed alders.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) In Virgil's sixth eclogue the sisters of Phaethon are changed into alders.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of alders' shade.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, of boats of alderwood.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of the tree in medicine.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

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

+ # ''(poetic)'' Something made of alderwood: a plank;^(OLD 2012) a [[m|en|boat]], ship.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[alneus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|alder]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}