cervus

See also: Cervus

Latin

cervī (stags)

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *kerwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂wós, from *ḱerh₂- (horn) (whence English horn, hirn, Latin cornū (horn)) + *-wós (whence Latin -vus).

Cognate with Welsh carw (deer), Greek κεραός (keraós, horned). The first-syllable e was likely taken from the PIE root noun *ḱerh₂s (horn) (itself eventually lost in Latin), while the shift in meaning from 'horned' to 'deer' may be common Italo-Celtic.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

cervus m (genitive cervī); second declension

  1. deer, stag
  2. (by extension) forked stakes
  3. (military) cheval de frise

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative cervus cervī
Genitive cervī cervōrum
Dative cervō cervīs
Accusative cervum cervōs
Ablative cervō cervīs
Vocative cerve cervī

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Balkan Romance:
    • Aromanian: tserbu
    • Megleno-Romanian: țerb
    • Romanian: cerb
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Ligurian: çervo
    • Lombard: cèrf
    • Venetian: cervo
  • Gallo-Romance:
    • Oïl languages:
      • Old French: cerf
      • Picard: cherfe
    • Occitano-Romance:
      • Old Catalan: cervo
      • Old Occitan:
        • Occitan: cèrvi
    • Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Ibero-Romance:
  • Italo-Dalmatian:
    • Corsican: cervu
    • Gallurese: celvu
    • Italian: cervo
    • Sassarese: zèivu
    • Sicilian: cervu
  • Sardinian:
  • Borrowings:

References

  1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

Further reading

  • cervus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • cervus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • cervus 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)
  • cervus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
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