vitrum

English

Etymology

From Latin vitrum.

Noun

vitrum (plural vitra)

  1. (obsolete) Glass; a glassy material.
    • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia:
      I imagine it to be some small parcel of the Steel, which by the violence of the motion of the stroke […] is made so glowing hot, that it is melted into a Vitrum, which by the ambient Air is thrust into the form of a Ball.

Latin

Etymology

  • Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *wed-ro- (literally “water-like”),[n 1] from the root *wed- (“water”).[1][2] Or, from a substrate source in common with Proto-Germanic *waizdaz and Ancient Greek ἰσάτις (isátis, “woad”). For the semantic development compare Persian آبگینه (âbgina, “glass”). The plant and its dye were named after the color of glass in antiquity.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    vitrum n (genitive vitrī); second declension

    1. glass
      Synonym: hyalus
      Mihi dicendum est de materia, ex qua vitrum conficitur.
      I must talk about this material, from which glass is produced.
    2. dyer's woad, a plant used for dying blue (Isatis tinctoria)
      Synonyms: glastum, isatis
    3. woad, a blue dye used by the Britons made from that plant

    Declension

    Second-declension noun (neuter).

    singular plural
    nominative vitrum vitra
    genitive vitrī vitrōrum
    dative vitrō vitrīs
    accusative vitrum vitra
    ablative vitrō vitrīs
    vocative vitrum vitra

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    (See also the descendants of vitreus, which seems to be the source of mass nouns meaning 'glass' in a number of West Iberian languages.)

    Notes

    1. ^ Both the shift of PIE *-dr- to Latin -tr- (cf. lutra, uter) and of *we- to vi- (cf. vigeō, vitulus) are expected.

    References

    1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “vitrum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 684–685
    2. ^ Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, § 223.5, page 212

    Further reading

    • “vitrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • “vitrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • "vitrum", 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)
    • “vitrum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • “vitrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • “vitrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

    Old Norse

    Adjective

    vitrum

    1. inflection of vitr:
      1. positive degree strong masculine dative singular
      2. positive degree strong/weak dative plural

    Noun

    vitrum

    1. indefinite dative plural of vitra

    Verb

    vitrum

    1. first-person plural present indicative/imperative active of vitra
    This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.