germen Latin · revision 35711

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=ine-pro *ǵénh₁mn̥}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɡɛr.mɛn]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈd͡ʒɛr.men]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''germen''' ''n'' (genitive germinis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*genamen]], [[inh|ine-pro|*ǵénh₁mn̥|t=offspring, seed]], from the root [[ine-pro|*ǵenh₁-|t=to beget]].^(Wiktionary) De Vaan, who lists it among the derivatives of [[gignō]], gives the noun as [[m|ine-pro|*ǵenh₁-mn-|t=germ, seed]].^(de Vaan 2008) The ⟨r⟩ comes by dissimilation from an older [[m|la|*genmen]];^(Wiktionary) the OLD and the TLL compare [[carmen]] beside [[canō]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Etymonline calls the origin uncertain and the link with the root only possible.^(Etymonline) Isidore of Seville connected it with [[gerō]] “to bear”.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Lucretius,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who uses it figuratively of the “germs” from which the madness of love springs (''rabiēs unde illaec germina surgunt'').^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its basic sense is a shoot or sprout, chiefly in poetry and in prose after Augustus.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Virgil uses it of a bud from another tree set into a graft,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) Statius of flower buds and even of the balsam that oozes from its shrubs,^(OLD 2012) and Pliny the Elder of the sprouting of trees.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ From plants it passed to living offspring: Ovid uses it of the child in the womb, Claudian of a god's daughters, Justin of a slave stock, and Nemesianus of puppies.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) Claudian also calls jewels the ''germina'' of the sea and horns the ''germina'' of the brow.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) In Prudentius it means origin or descent.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) Ecclesiastical Latin uses it of shoots, fruit and produce.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ British medieval writers used it for shoots and, figuratively, for the seeds of virtue or of a quarrel, and of persons for a family line.^(DMLBS) It survives in [[it|germe]] and [[fr|germe]];^(Conte 2010)^(Etymonline) English [[m|en|germ]] came through French, first as “bud, sprout” in the mid-15th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it figuratively for the seeds of a passion.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a grafted bud.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of an unborn child.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

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

+ * c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of flower buds.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-15th century – English borrows it, through French, as [[m|en|germ]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|shoot]], [[m|en|sprout]] or [[m|en|bud]]; also a flower bud.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # Sprouting, [[m|en|germination]].^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(poetic)'' A resinous exudation (of the balsam shrub).^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Offspring; an [[m|en|embryo]] or child; of animals, young.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A [[m|en|germ]], source, origin.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' Fruit, produce.^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A family line, race.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[germānus]]

+ * [[germinō]]

+ * [[germināscō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[germinātiō]]

+ * [[germinātus]]

+ * [[en|germ]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}