fungus Latin · revision 5405

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fungus''' ''m'' (genitive fungī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably a loanword from a non-Indo-European language, borrowed separately into Latin, Greek and Armenian in a form like *sphong-.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[grc|σπόγγος|tr=spóngos|t=sponge]] and [[xcl|սունկ|tr=sunk|t=mushroom]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Saalfeld and Köbler take it from the Greek word.^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a fungus, in practice the larger kinds such as mushrooms and toadstools.^(OLD 2012) Cicero complains of a dinner of mushrooms, and Horace and Pliny the Elder discuss them as food.^(Gaffiot 2016) As an insult it meant a blockhead, as in Plautus.^(OLD 2012) Pliny also uses it of a growth on the wick of a lamp.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ [[en|fungus]] was taken in the 1520s as a learned word for a mushroom.^(Etymonline) It survives in [[it|fungo]] and [[es|hongo]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls a man a fungus, a fool.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero suffers from a dish of mushrooms.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder discusses fungi.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1520s – English ''fungus'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|mushroom]], [[m|en|fungus]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # A fool, blockhead.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fungīnus]]

+ * [[fungōsus]]

+ * [[fungulus]]

+ * [[fungifōrmis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fungidus]]

+ * [[en|fungus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}