hirundo Latin · revision 33844

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [hɪˈrʊn.doː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [iˈrun.do]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''hirundō''' ''f'' (genitive hirundinis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''irundō''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The OLD and the TLL call it imitative, like [[m|la|hirriō|t=to snarl]], and Walde and Hofmann held the same view, though de Vaan notes that the suffix then remains unclear.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(de Vaan 2008) Lockwood proposed that the swallow was named for its forked tail and linked the word with [[m|la|harundō|t=reed]], but de Vaan finds no proof that the word for reed could mean a forked stick.^(de Vaan 2008) Lewis & Short took it from [[grc|χελιδών|tr=khelidṓn|t=swallow]], which Wiktionary only compares.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) Varro counted it among birds named from their calls, and Isidore explained it from its taking food on the wing rather than sitting.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and the TLL find it first in Plautus;^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) in the ''Rudens'' someone speaks of taking swallows from the nest.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It covers swallows and various martins.^(OLD 2012) Plautus uses it as a pet name, beside duckling and little dove,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Lucretius has the proverb asking how a swallow could compete with swans.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Virgil, Ovid and Horace have it,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and writers note it as a migrant whose coming marks the season, and a bird that flies low over water before rain.^(TLL) Pliny the Elder also uses it of a flying fish.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Isidore calls it most skilful in building nests and rearing young.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of swallows and as a pet name.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius, “a swallow against swans”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, of a swallow over a lake.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of a flying fish.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|swallow]] or [[m|en|martin]]; a pet name.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[hirundineus]]

+ * [[hirundinīnus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}