turtur Latin · revision 34433

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈtʊr.tʊr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈtur.tur]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''turtur''' ''m'' (genitive turturis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is masculine, but Pliny the Elder uses it as feminine.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is onomatopoeic, a reduplication imitating the bird's coo, like [[m|la|upupa|t=hoopoe]] and [[m|la|murmur|t=murmur]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Conte 2010) Pokorny lists it among sound-imitating words with ⟨t⟩ and ⟨r⟩, beside [[grc|τρυγών|tr=trugṓn|t=turtle dove]] and [[m|grc|τρύζω|tr=trúzō|t=to coo]].^(Pokorny 1959)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus uses it several times, in the ''Mostellaria'', the ''Bacchides'' and the ''Poenulus''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the turtle dove, which Varro and Columella discuss in their works on farming,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and which Virgil and Ovid mention in poetry.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) ''Turtur marinus'', the sea turtle dove, was a stingray.^(Georges 1913) The bird appears in Ecclesiastical Latin,^(Stelten 1995) and medieval writers in Britain use it of the bird and of its supposed virtues, such as never taking a second mate.^(DMLBS) Italian [[m|it|tortora]] continues it.^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in several comedies.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro writes about keeping turtle doves.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil mentions the bird in the ''Eclogues''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it as feminine.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

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

+ # ''turtur marīnus'': a [[m|en|stingray]].^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[turturella]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}