mergus Latin · revision 36411

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=c. 180–102 BC, Lucilius|origins=la mergō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈmɛr.ɡʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɛr.ɡus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mergus''' ''m'' (genitive mergī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[der|la|mergō|t=to dip, plunge]], the bird that dives into the water.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) That verb goes back to [[itc-pro|*mezge/o-]] and [[ine-pro|*mesg-e/o-|t=to sink, wash]];^(de Vaan 2008) de Vaan compares [[lt|mazgóti]] and [[lv|mazgât]], both “to wash”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Ancient grammarians saw the same link: Varro says the bird is called ''mergus'' because it catches its food by diving into the water.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Lucilius,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) in a joking phrase, ''mergus agrārius'', for a man eager to own land, quoted in the life of Pertinax in the ''Historia Augusta''.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It names several seabirds, probably gulls according to the OLD;^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short and Wiktionary take it as a diver.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) Lucretius writes of birds that seek their food in the salt sea,^(OLD 2012) Ovid explains its name by its diving,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Pliny the Elder says that these birds foretell rain when they flee the sea.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In viticulture it was a layer, a shoot bent down into the ground to take root: Columella advises renewing old vineyards with layers rather than laying them down whole, and Pliny the Elder also has it.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius jokes about a “land diver”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(Georges 1913)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of seabirds.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a layer of a vine.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder says these birds foretell rain.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|seabird]], probably a [[m|en|gull]];^(OLD 2012) a [[m|en|diver]] or similar diving waterfowl.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(viticulture)'' A [[m|en|layer]] of a vine.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mergulus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mergō]]

+ * [[gāvia]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}