vepres Latin · revision 34417

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=234–149 BC, Cato}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈwɛ.preːs], [ˈwɛp.reːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈvɛː.pres], [ˈvɛp.res]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''veprēs''' ''m'' or f (genitive vepris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Ancient grammarians also give the nominative singular as ''vepris'' or ''veper''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ The genitive plural is ''veprium'', in Statius ''veprum''.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Conte 2010)

+ Lucretius treats it as feminine.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is unknown.^(Walde 1906)^(Wiktionary) Pokorny tentatively derives it from [[ine-pro|*u̯erp-|t=to turn, wind]], by dissimilation of an earlier [[m|la|*vreprēs]], and compares [[grc|ῥῶπες|tr=rhôpes|t=twigs, brushwood]];^(Pokorny 1959)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler gives that root with a question mark.^(Köbler 2010) An older comparison with [[lv|vepris|t=boar]], as if the bush were “bristly”, is rejected by Walde and by Pokorny.^(Walde 1906)^(Pokorny 1959)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first recorded in Cato's work on agriculture, in the plural.^(Köbler 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) A decree of the Senate quoted by Frontinus lists ''arbores, vites, vepres, sentes'', trees, vines, briars and thorns.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is usually plural, of thornbushes or a thorny thicket:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero describes a tomb fenced and overgrown all round with briars and thickets (''vepribus et dumetis''), and it occurs in Virgil and Horace.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) The singular is rare and mostly poetic, as in Ovid's hare hiding in a bramble (''lepus vepre latens'').^(Lewis 1890)^(Georges 1913) Ammianus quotes the proverb ''inter vepres rosae nascuntur'', “roses grow among thorns”.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The Vulgate has the singular in Isaiah (''veprem et spinam'').^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Medieval writers in Britain use it of thorn-bushes and brambles, also figuratively, and of a thorny branch or stem.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses the plural in his work on agriculture.^(Köbler 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it as a feminine.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero describes a tomb overgrown with briars.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Georgics.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 390 AD – Ammianus quotes the proverb of roses growing among thorns.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(usually in the plural)'' A [[m|en|thornbush]], [[m|en|briar]], [[m|en|bramble]]; a thorny thicket.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A branch or stem of a thornbush.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dūmus]]

+ * [[sentis]]

+ * [[veprēcula]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes it from its near-synonyms: ''dumi'' are bushes growing thickly together like a wilderness, ''sentes'' prickly, wounding bushes, and ''vepres'' combines both, thornbushes that turn the ground into a wilderness.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}