scrofa Latin · revision 5941

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈskroː.fa]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈskrɔː.fa]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''scrōfa''' ''f'' (genitive scrōfae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is uncertain.^(OLD 2012) De Vaan takes it as a non-Roman dialect form [[itc-pro|*skrof-ā-|t=scratcher, digger]], from the root [[ine-pro|*skrobʰ-]] of [[scrobis]] “ditch”, since pigs are often named from the way they root for food, as with [[porcus]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) He rejects Walde and Hofmann's borrowing from [[grc|γρομφάς|tr=gromphás|t=old sow]], which does not explain the Latin form and may not be old enough.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) If it is a borrowing, the Romans may have taken a short /o/ as ''ō''.^(de Vaan 2008)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

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

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a sow, especially a breeding sow, a word of farming writers such as Varro and Columella and of Juvenal.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) ''Scrōfa'' was also a Roman cognomen, as of Tremelius Scrofa, the writer on agriculture who appears in Varro.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Its diminutive plural ''scrōfulae'' meant swellings of the glands, and Gaffiot records ''scrōfae'' in that sense too.^(Gaffiot 2016)

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+ In Medieval Latin it was a siege engine for undermining walls.^(Niermeyer 1976) Its descendants include [[it|scrofa]] and [[ro|scroafă]], and [[fr|écrou]] “nut of a screw”.^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of breeding sows.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Middle Ages – It names a siege engine.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|sow]], especially a breeding sow.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(plural)'' Swellings of the glands, [[m|en|scrofula]].^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A siege engine for undermining walls.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[scrōfīnus]]

+ * [[scrōfipascus]]

+ * [[scrōfulae]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[porcus]]

+ * [[scrobis]]

+ * [[sūs]]

+ * [[en|scrofula]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}