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scirpus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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scirpus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Latin
Etymology
Uncertain. Possibly from a root similar to Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerbʰ- (“to turn (around), wind”) (compare corbis (“basket”), Ancient Greek κάρφος (kárphos, “stalk, straw”), and descendants of Proto-Balto-Slavic *karbás and Proto-West Germanic *korb (“basket”)), but an inherited origin for all of these is controversial. Even if scirp- is indeed related to this set, the phonetics (root vowel i, coda p) are incongruent with inheritance from PIE and so might indicate a wanderwort or substrate language source. Alternatively, de Vaan tentatively suggests a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerp- (“to pluck, cut off”), whence carpō (“to pluck harvest”).[1]
The figurative sense derives from the plaiting of rushes to make intricate patterns.
Pronunciation
Noun
scirpus m (genitive scirpī); second declension
- a rush, bulrush
- Synonym: iuncus
- (figuratively) riddle, enigma
Declension
Second-declension noun.
Derived terms
Descendants
References
- “scirpus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “scirpus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- scirpus 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)
- scirpus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “scirpus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 546