pomifer Latin · revision 34629

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=65–8 BC, Horace|origins=la pōmum, la ferō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpoː.mɪ.fɛr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɔː.mi.fer]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pōmifer''' (feminine pōmifera, neuter pōmiferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|pōmum|-fer|t1=fruit|t2=bearing]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) the second part being from [[m|la|ferō|t=to carry, bear]].^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Horace has it first,^(Köbler 2010) of the fruitful year and of fruit-bearing autumn.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Propertius calls the Anio ''pomifer'', the river that makes the fields bear fruit.^(OLD 2012) Lewis and Short call it poetic and post-Augustan in prose: Seneca's tragedies, Pliny the Elder, Mela, Suetonius and Apuleius use it of fruit trees, groves and gardens, and Pliny describes a tree that bears fruit at all times.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The feminine plural served as a noun for fruit trees in Columella and Pliny.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) An inscription calls Silvanus ''pomifer''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ The Vulgate has ''lignum pomiferum'' for the fruit tree of Genesis, and medieval British writers quote the phrase; one hymn applies the word to the Virgin.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of the year and of autumn.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius calls the Anio fruitful.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses the feminine plural for fruit trees.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of trees.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has ''lignum pomiferum'' in Genesis.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Bearing [[m|en|fruit]], [[m|en|fruitful]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Making things bear fruit.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(feminine plural)'' [[m|en|fruit tree|alt=Fruit trees]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pōmum]]

+ * [[pōmārium]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}