vernus

See also: вернусь

Latin

Etymology

Ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥ "spring" (also reconstructed alternatively as *wésr̥ or *wḗsr̥), the root of Latin vēr "spring". The details of the derivation differ between sources. Vernus could be the reflex of a deadverbial adjective in -*no- built on a locative form of the *wósr̥/*wésr̥/*wḗsr̥ noun. Piotr Gąsiorowski (2012) presents the following derivation from the PIE locative stem *wesri where the final Latin form vernus results from haplology or syncope of *er: *wesri-no- > *wezr̥₂no- > *wererno- > vernus.[1] In the case of a locative formation, vernus could instead come from a form vēri-no (with syncope of *i) (Alan Nussbaum, cited in de Vaan, 2008). As an alternative to the locative derivation, de Vaan suggests that the word could come from *wesinos (with rhotacism of *s and syncope of *i).[2] By surface analysis, vēr +‎ -nus.

Pronunciation

There seems to be no definite evidence of the length of the vowel in the first syllable in Classical Latin. Some etymologies imply an originally short vowel; furthermore, it is hypothesized that at certain points in time, an originally long vowel in Latin was subject to shortening (called Osthoff's Law) before any consonant cluster starting with a resonant.[3] On the other hand, some sources give the pronunciation of this word as vērnus because of the long vowel in the related noun vēr;[4] it is plausible that analogical pressure from the noun could have resulted in the adjective having a long vowel in Classical Latin, even if a short vowel would be expected as the outcome of regular phonetic changes. (Compare the lack of Osthoff's Law–shortening in fūrtum (“theft”) from fūr (“thief”).)

Adjective

vē̆rnus (feminine vē̆rna, neuter vē̆rnum); first/second-declension adjective

  1. (relational) spring; vernal

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative vē̆rnus vē̆rna vē̆rnum vē̆rnī vē̆rnae vē̆rna
Genitive vē̆rnī vē̆rnae vē̆rnī vē̆rnōrum vē̆rnārum vē̆rnōrum
Dative vē̆rnō vē̆rnō vē̆rnīs
Accusative vē̆rnum vē̆rnam vē̆rnum vē̆rnōs vē̆rnās vē̆rna
Ablative vē̆rnō vē̆rnā vē̆rnō vē̆rnīs
Vocative vē̆rne vē̆rna vē̆rnum vē̆rnī vē̆rnae vē̆rna

Derived terms

References
  1. Gąsiorowski, Piotr (2012) “The Germanic reflexes of PIE *-sr- in the context of Verner's Law”, in The Sound of Indo-European: Phonetics, Phonemics, and Morphophonemics‎, Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 117-129
  2. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
  3. Ollie Sayeed (2017 January 1) “Osthoff’s Law in Latin”, in Indo-European Linguistics‎, volume 5, number 1, Brill, →ISSN, page 157 of 147–177
  4. Charles E. Bennett (1907) “Hidden Quantity”, in The Latin Language – a historical outline of its sounds, inflections, and syntax, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, page 55

Further reading
  • “vernus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “vernus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • vernus 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)
  • vernus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • the charms of spring: suavitas verni temporis
    • (ambiguous) in spring, summer, autumn, winter time: verno, aestivo, auctumnali, hiberno tempore

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