aer Latin · revision 3661

15 Oct 2026, 19:53 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Ennius|origins=grc ἀήρ}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈaː.eːr]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.er]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''āēr''' ''m'' or f (genitive āeris or āeros); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|grc|ἀήρ|tr=aḗr|t=mist, air]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Saalfeld 1874) In Greek it first meant “mist, haze”, and later “atmosphere”.^(Etymonline) Wiktionary traces the Greek word to [[ine-pro|*h₂ews-]].^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ It is found in Ennius (204–169 BC), who used it as a feminine, as Greek ἀήρ was in the earliest period.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant air as one of the four elements, as in Cicero, and the air surrounding the earth, the atmosphere, as Plautus' “you'd have me fish in the air”.^(OLD 2012) It meant the sky, a space of air, the air of a place, its climate, and a breeze, as in Lucretius and Virgil.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ The poets also used it of a mist or cloud and of a scent.^(OLD 2012) In medieval music theory ''aer Gallicus'' and ''aer Italicus'' were the threefold and twofold divisions of the semibreve.^(LmL) English ''air'' came from it through Old French about 1300.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the sense “atmosphere”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the element air.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 14th century – Music theory uses ''aer'' of ways of dividing the semibreve.^(LmL)
+ * c. 1300 – English ''air'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # [[m|en|Air]] (as an element).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # The [[m|en|atmosphere]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # The sky.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A space (of air).^(OLD 2012)
+ # The air of a place, [[m|en|climate]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # A breeze.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A mist, cloud.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A scent.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(medieval music)'' A way of dividing the [[m|en|semibreve]].^(LmL)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[aerinus]]
+ * [[āerius]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[en|air]]
+ 
+ ==Usage notes==
+ Döderlein says ''aer'' was a learned word for the element air, opposed to ''aether'', while ''anima'' was the ordinary word.^(Döderlein 1874)
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}