ervum Latin · revision 34292

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɛr.wũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛr.vum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ervum''' ''n'' (genitive ervī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The archaic spelling is ''ervom'',^(Georges 1913) and the spellings ''hervum'', ''erbum'' and ''herbum'' also occur.^(Köbler 2010)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The OLD calls it a foreign loanword,^(OLD 2012) and de Vaan thinks it may come from a non-Indo-European substrate language: it clearly belongs with the Greek and Germanic words for pulses, but no common preform can be reconstructed, their formation differs, and they name a crop native to the region.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary likewise speaks of a Mediterranean substrate.^(Wiktionary) Köbler, after Pokorny, sets up an Indo-European word for a pulse.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ Cognate with [[grc|ὄροβος|tr=órobos]], [[m|grc|ἐρέβινθος|tr=erébinthos|t=chick-pea]], [[goh|araweiz]] and [[osx|erwit|t=peas]], and perhaps [[mga|orbaind|t=grains]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler find it first in Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) whose ''Mostellaria'' asks ''ervom daturin estis bubus quod feram?'', “are you going to give me vetch to take to the oxen?”.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a cultivated vetch, the bitter vetch ''Vicia ervilia'', or its seed.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Cato and Columella treat it as fodder for oxen, and Cato has meal made from it;^(TLL) Virgil has a bull “lean on rich vetch”, and Horace has ''tenue ervum'', “meagre vetch”.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Celsus uses it in medicine.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Medieval herbals and glossaries still name the plant;^(MLW)^(DMLBS) it was confused with [[herba]], and so also meant grass or pasture,^(MLW) and in British sources a kind of couch grass.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has vetch for the oxen.^(TLL)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato lists it among the crops and makes meal of it.^(TLL)^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil and Horace use it.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella treats it as fodder and medicine for oxen.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Middle Ages – It also means grass or pasture.^(MLW)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The bitter [[m|en|vetch]], ''Vicia ervilia'', or its seed; other vetches.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Grass, [[m|en|pasture]];^(MLW) [[m|en|couch grass]].^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ervilia]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}