myrice Latin · revision 35674

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=grc μυρίκη}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [myˈriː.keː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [miˈriː.t͡ʃe]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''myrīcē''' ''f'' (genitive myrīcēs); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Also ''myrīca'', genitive ''myrīcae'', first declension.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|μυρίκη|tr=muríkē|t=tamarisk]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary) Köbler, following Frisk, takes the Greek word to be probably of Semitic origin.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Georges records it first in Virgil, who uses the plural ''myricae'' in the Eclogues;^(Georges 1913) Köbler's first source is Pliny the Elder.^(Köbler 2010) It means the [[m|en|tamarisk]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the tamarisk, a shrub growing by water, which Georges identifies as ''Tamarix gallica''.^(Georges 1913)^(OLD 2012) In Virgil it became a figure of the impossible: ''pinguia corticibus sudent electra myricae'', “let tamarisks sweat rich amber from their bark”,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) and Ovid likewise says that whoever hopes for the same may as well hope for apples from tamarisks.^(Georges 1913) Pliny the Elder describes the shrub,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) and the Vulgate uses the word in Jeremiah.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ In medieval Latin it also meant heath or moorland.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the tamarisk as a figure of the impossible.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid speaks of apples from tamarisks.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the shrub.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Jeremiah.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|tamarisk]], or a bush of it.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' [[m|en|heath|alt=Heath]], [[m|en|moor]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Myrīcē'' is also the name of a nymph from whom, in Silius Italicus, Hannibal's wife Imilce was descended.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}