imbrifer Latin · revision 36577

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=la imber}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɪm.brɪ.fɛr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈim.bri.fer]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''imbrifer''' (feminine imbrifera, neuter imbriferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|imber|-fer|t1=rain|t2=bearing]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) The noun [[m|la|imber]] goes back to [[itc-pro|*n̥fr-i-|t=cloud]] and [[ine-pro|*n̥bʰ-r-o-|t=(rain) cloud]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Virgil is the first to have it, in the ''Georgics'', of the rainy spring: ''imbriferum vēr''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a poetic word, also found in prose after Augustus.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Ovid calls the south winds rain-bringing, and Columella speaks of a stormy and rainy state of the sky, contrasted with a calm one.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Martial applies it to the Nile in the sense of overflowing.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Medieval poets and chroniclers kept it for rain-bearing clouds, winds and months:^(DMLBS)^(MLW) Alcuin has clouds heavy with rain,^(DMLBS) and a Carolingian calendar calls December the rain-bringing month.^(MLW) It could also mean moistening, of dew wetting the earth.^(MLW)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the rainy spring.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the south winds.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it in prose of a rainy sky.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of the overflowing Nile.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Bringing [[m|en|rain]], [[m|en|rainy]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(of a river)'' Overflowing.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Moistening, bringing [[m|en|dew]].^(MLW)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}