porrum Latin · revision 35694

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=inherited|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=ine-pro *pr̥so-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpɔr.rũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɔr.rum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''porrum''' ''n'' (genitive porrī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A masculine ''porrus, -ī'' is also found.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*porso-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*pr̥so-]],^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) and corresponds to [[grc|πράσον|tr=práson|t=leek]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Because botanists think that the leek originated in the Mediterranean and spread across Europe from Roman times, the Latin and Greek words have mostly been taken as an agricultural borrowing from a Mediterranean language;^(de Vaan 2008) the TLL holds that Greeks and Romans took the form separately from one unknown language.^(TLL)

+

+ Weiss connects it instead with [[ine-pro|*perso-|t=ear of grain; sheath]], seen in [[sa|पर्ष|tr=parṣá-|t=sheaf, bundle]] and [[ae|parša-|t=ear of corn]]; de Vaan finds this formally attractive but asks how a leek could be named from an ear of grain or a sheath.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary also lists [[sq|presh]] as a cognate.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Cato,^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) meaning the [[m|en|leek]]: the ''De agri cultura'' prescribes three shoots of leek (''porri fibras iii'') in a remedy.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Columella and Pliny the Elder distinguish two kinds, the headed leek (''porrum capitatum'') and the cut leek (''porrum sectivum'' or ''sectile''), of which only the tops were eaten, the plant that Lewis and Short identify as [[m|en|chives]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Isidore of Seville repeats the two kinds.^(Isidore) ''Porrum nigrum'' was another plant, the black horehound (Greek ''ballōtē'').^(OLD 2012) Martial and Juvenal mention the leek as everyday food.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in a remedy.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 2nd half of the 1st century BC – The poem ''Moretum'' mentions it.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella describes the cut leek.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder names ''porrum nigrum''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville lists the two kinds of leek.^(Isidore)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|leek]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) ''porrum sectivum'' (or ''sectile''), a leek of which only the tops were eaten, [[m|en|chives]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''porrum nigrum'', the black [[m|en|horehound]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[porrāceus]]

+ * [[porrīna]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}