vacca Latin · revision 754

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈwak.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvak.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vacca''' ''f'' (genitive vaccae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) It has been compared with [[sa|वशा|tr=vaśā́|t=cow]], from a possible [[ine-pro|*weḱ-eh₂]], but Latin would then need an o-grade, and de Vaan points out that *o became ''a'' only in open syllables, so the comparison holds only if Proto-Italic had an unexplained geminate.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) He follows instead a suggestion that it comes from a pre-form *vākā, linked to [[sa|वाशति|tr=vā́śati|t=roars]] and to Latin [[vagio|alt=vāgiō]], so that the cow would be “the bellowing one” from an imitative root [[ine-pro|*weh₂-]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Pokorny explained the double ''c'' as the consonant lengthening common in animal names,^(Pokorny 1959) and Köbler gives the root as [[ine-pro|*wā̆kā]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first author is Varro, in the 1st century BC,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who uses it of the [[m|en|cow]] in his work on farming.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word kept the plain sense “cow” throughout Latin, contrasting with [[taurus]] “bull”;^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Columella distinguishes working cows used for ploughing.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Its Romance descendants continue the same meaning: DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance */ˈβakk-a/ for French ''vache'', Italian ''vacca'', Spanish ''vaca'' and Romanian ''vacă''.^(DÉRom)

+

+ Medieval texts use it also as the name of a kitchen implement of iron.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for the cow.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the ''Eclogues'', the ''Georgics'' and the ''Aeneid''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella writes of cows used for ploughing.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1218 – An inventory lists ''vaccas ferri'', an iron kitchen implement.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|cow]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' An iron kitchen implement.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vāgiō]]

+ * [[en|vaccine]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The derivative ''[[vaccinus]]'' “of cows” is the source of [[en|vaccine]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}