bubo Latin · revision 35697

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=onomatopoeia|attested=116–27 BC, Varro}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈbuː.boː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈbuː.bo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''būbō''' ''m'' (genitive būbōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably onomatopoeic, imitating the owl's call /buː/.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Similar names for the owl occur in other Indo-European languages, such as [[grc|βύας|tr=búas|t=eagle-owl]] and [[xcl|բու|tr=bu|t=owl]],^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) and de Vaan regards the Latin noun as a kind of reduplication.^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler places it with Pokorny's [[ine-pro|*beu-|t=to make a dull sound]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ Isidore of Seville already took the name from the sound of the bird's voice.^(Isidore)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan records it first in Varro and the historian Asellio,^(de Vaan 2008) and Georges cites Varro's ''De lingua Latina'';^(Georges 1913) it means the horned or [[m|en|eagle owl]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The owl's cry was taken as an evil [[m|en|omen]], and the word is mostly used of the bird of ill omen.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Ovid calls it ''ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen'', “the sluggish owl, a dread omen for mortals”, a line Isidore quotes;^(Isidore)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Virgil once makes it feminine, which grammarians noted.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Servius, commenting on Virgil, distinguishes the small ''noctua'' from the larger ''bubo'', and Isidore follows him.^(TLL)

+

+ Pliny the Elder describes the bird,^(Georges 1913) and the Vulgate uses the word in Leviticus.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses the word.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it once as a feminine.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid calls it a dread omen for mortals.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the bird.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 400 AD – Servius distinguishes ''bubo'' from ''noctua''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the name from the bird's voice.^(Isidore)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The horned or [[m|en|eagle owl]], especially as a bird of ill [[m|en|omen]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate Medieval Latin ''būbō'' meant a [[m|en|swelling]] in the groin; it comes from [[grc|βουβών|tr=boubṓn|t=groin, swelling in the groin]],^(Wiktionary)^(Niermeyer 1976) and English took it over in the late 14th century as ''bubo''.^(Etymonline) Niermeyer also lists a Medieval Latin ''bubo'' of Germanic origin, “boy, fellow, rogue”.^(Niermeyer 1976) A rare verb ''bubō, -ere'', “to cry like a bittern”, appears in the ''Carmen de Philomela''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}