furfur

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English

Etymology

From Latin furfur (“bran”), reduplication of *fur, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰur-, metathesis of *gʰrus- (compare Lithuanian grū́sti (“to grind (barley)”), Ancient Greek χρώς (khrṓs, “skin, husk”)).

Pronunciation

Noun

furfur (usually uncountable, plural furfures)

  1. (archaic, countable) a particle of dandruff
  2. (archaic, uncountable) dandruff
    • 1964, Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like the Sun:
      ‘Aye,’ said WS, still in bed, scratching his baldness, examining the furfur in his fingernails.

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

Unknown. Traditionally explained as from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to rub, grind”), however as De Vaan notes the vowel /u/ would be unexplained; a preform *gʰur- ~ *ǵʰur- would be expected instead, but no such root exists.[1] Compare Ancient Greek κέγχρος (kénkhros) and κάχρυς (kákhrus), which also relate to grains.

Alternatively, cognate with Sanskrit बुस (busa, “chaff, refuse grain; rubbish”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰus-.[2] In either of these cases, from a reduplicated root.

Given the word's unusual form in the absence of a solid Indo-European explanation, borrowing from some unknown, perhaps substrate, source is likely.

Pronunciation

Noun

furfur m (genitive furfuris); third declension

  1. bran, husks of grain, chaff
  2. scaly infection of the skin

Declension

Third-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative furfur furfurēs
genitive furfuris furfurum
dative furfurī furfuribus
accusative furfurem furfurēs
ablative furfure furfuribus
vocative furfur furfurēs

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “furfur, -is”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 252
  2. ^ Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) “pīsäl”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 417

Further reading

  • “furfur”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • furfur in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
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