viscum Latin · revision 36490

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈwɪs.kũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈvis.kum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''viscum''' ''n'' (genitive viscī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Plautus has the masculine ''viscus''.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is perhaps [[inh|itc-pro|*wisko-]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan regards it as either a Proto-Indo-European word or a European loanword for mistletoe or another fruit-bearing tree; the original form may have been [[m|ine-pro|*wiks-]], with metathesis in Latin, or [[m|ine-pro|*wiKsk-]], with the middle cluster simplified differently in each language.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary gives [[ine-pro|*weyḱs-]] with a question mark.^(Wiktionary) Cognate with [[grc|ἰξός|tr=ixós|t=mistletoe; birdlime]], [[goh|wīhsela|t=morello cherry]] and [[sla-pro|*višьňa]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008) who uses the masculine ''viscus'' for birdlime in a figure: in the ''Bacchides'' flattery is ''viscus merus'', pure birdlime.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Cato gives a recipe to be boiled until as thick as birdlime,^(OLD 2012) and Cicero says that a small creature sticks in the wax of the ear as in birdlime.^(OLD 2012) Virgil counts trapping birds with lime among the early inventions, and in the ''Aeneid'' describes mistletoe green with new leaves in winter on a tree that did not sow it.^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder describes the plant on oaks and other trees, and Columella and Celsus use it in medicine.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) It was also applied to other sticky substances, as pitch in Juvenal.^(OLD 2012) Medieval writers used it of mistletoe, especially that of the oak, in medicine.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for birdlime, figuratively.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it as a measure of thickness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of birdlime and of the mistletoe.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the plant.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|mistletoe|alt=Mistletoe]], a plant parasitic on trees.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # [[m|en|birdlime|alt=Birdlime]] made from mistletoe berries; figuratively, a snare.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Any other sticky substance, such as [[m|en|pitch]].^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[viscidus]]

+ * [[viscōsus]]

+ * [[viscātus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The OLD's second ''viscum'' is only a variant of the unrelated [[viscus]] “internal organ”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}