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. Possibly the reflex of a deadverbial adjective in *-no- built on a locative form of the Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥ / *wésr̥ / *wḗsr̥ noun. According to one hypothesis, *vērno- developed from syncope of *-i- in a pre-form *vēri-no-, built on a reconstructed locative singular case-form *vēri^[1]^[2]^[3] (compare the leveled stem vēr- seen in inflected forms of the Latin noun vēr). Gąsiorowski 2012 instead proposes 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.^[4] As an alternative to derivation from a locative form, 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

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈweːr.nʊs], [ˈwɛr.nʊs]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈvɛr.nus]
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.^[5] On the other hand, some sources give the pronunciation of this word as vērnus because of the long vowel in the related noun vēr;^[6] 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

(relational) spring; vernal

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
	singular			plural
nominative	vē̆rnus	vē̆rna	vē̆rnum	vē̆rnī	vē̆rnae	vē̆rna
genitive	vē̆rnī	vē̆rnae	vē̆rnī	vē̆rnōrum	vē̆rnārum	vē̆rnōrum
dative	vē̆rnō	vē̆rnae	vē̆rnō	vē̆rnīs
accusative	vē̆rnum	vē̆rnam	vē̆rnum	vē̆rnōs	vē̆rnās	vē̆rna
ablative	vē̆rnō	vē̆rnā	vē̆rnō	vē̆rnīs
vocative	vē̆rne	vē̆rna	vē̆rnum	vē̆rnī	vē̆rnae	vē̆rna

Derived terms

vē̆rnō

Related terms

References

^ Szemerényi, Oswald (1959), “Latin hībernus and Greek χειμερινός”, in Glotta, volume 38, pages 113-114
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “vēr”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 663-664: “Lat. vernus may reflect *u̯esinos, or, with Nussbaum, be delocatival from *vēri-no-.”
^ Nishimura, Kanehiro (2022), “‘Day’ and ‘night’ in Latin: The formation of temporal adjectives and adverbs”, in Indo-European Linguistics, volume 10, number 1, →DOI, page 130
^ 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^[1], Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 117-129
^ Ollie Sayeed (1 January 2017), “Osthoff’s Law in Latin”, in Indo-European Linguistics‎^[2], volume 5, number 1, Brill, →ISSN, page 157 of 147–177
^ 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

Anagrams

nervus

[1] Szemerényi, Oswald (1959), “Latin hībernus and Greek χειμερινός”, in Glotta, volume 38, pages 113-114

[De_Vaan-2] 2.0 ^2.1 De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “vēr”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 663-664: “Lat. vernus may reflect *u̯esinos, or, with Nussbaum, be delocatival from *vēri-no-.”

[3] Nishimura, Kanehiro (2022), “‘Day’ and ‘night’ in Latin: The formation of temporal adjectives and adverbs”, in Indo-European Linguistics, volume 10, number 1, →DOI, page 130

[4] 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^[1], Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 117-129

[5] Ollie Sayeed (1 January 2017), “Osthoff’s Law in Latin”, in Indo-European Linguistics‎^[2], volume 5, number 1, Brill, →ISSN, page 157 of 147–177

[6] 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

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