pinus

English

Etymology

From the genus name. Doublet of pine.

Noun

pinus (plural pinuses)

1. (botany) Any member of the genus Pinus; a pine.
   • 1839, J. C. Loudon, The Gardener's Magazine, page 420:

     I have been invited to see the garden of Baron Zanoli, situated on the high road from Monza to Milan, in which I am told there are fine exotic trees and shrubs, and especially a rich collection of pinuses.

   • 1853, George Greenwood, The tree-lifter, page 265:

     As the generality of pinuses grow by nature into magnificent and gigantic forest-trees, they should, I think, be planted in our parks as well as in our flower-gardens, shrubberies, and lawns.

Latin

Etymology

Of disputed origin, with multiple theories proposed:

• From the same origin as Ancient Greek πῐ́νᾰξ (pínax, “wooden board, plank”).
• From the same origin as Ancient Greek πίτῠς (pítus, “pine tree”) and Albanian pishë (“id”), which is generally reconstructed as Proto-Indo-European *pī́ts.
• Related to pix (“pitch, tar”), itself generally considered of the same origin as the second etymology above.

See also Sanskrit पितु (pitu, “sap, juice, resin”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpiː.nus/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpi.nus/,

Noun

pīnus f (variously declined, genitive pīnūs or pīnī); fourth declension, second declension

1. pine tree, fir tree
2. pinewood, or a thing made of such wood
3. lance, spear
4. wreath of pine leaves
5. pine forest, pineland

   Synonym: pinetum

Declension

Fourth-declension noun or second-declension noun.

Derived terms

Descendants

References

• “pinus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pinus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pinus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• pinus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.