quercus

See also: Quercus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *kʷerkus, assimilated from Proto-Indo-European *pérkus ~ *pr̥kʷéu- (oak). Compare Old Norse fýri (as in fýriskógr (pine-wood). See also English fir.

Pronunciation

Noun

quercus f (genitive quercūs or quercī); variously declined, fourth declension, second declension

  1. an oak, oak-tree, especially the Italian oak
    • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.441–443:
      Ac velut annōsō validam cum rōbore quercum
      Alpīnī Boreae nunc hinc nunc flātibus illinc
      ēruere inter sē certant; [...].
      And just as a mighty oak with strength in age, when Alpine Northwinds — by [their] blows, now [to] this side, now that — compete among themselves to uproot [it]; [...].
  2. (poetic) something made from oak wood (e.g., an oaken ship, an oaken javelin, etc.)

Usage notes

  • The Italian oak was considered sacred to the god Jupiter.

Declension

Fourth-declension noun (dative/ablative plural in -ubus) or fourth-declension noun or second-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative quercus quercūs
quercī
genitive quercūs
quercī
quercuum
quercōrum
dative quercuī
quercō
quercubus
quercibus
quercīs
accusative quercum quercūs
quercōs
ablative quercū
quercō
quercubus
quercibus
quercīs
vocative quercus
querce
quercūs
quercī

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Translingual: Quercus
  • Galician: cerquiño, cerqueiro
  • Italian: quercia
  • Portuguese: querco
  • Sicilian: cerza
  • Spanish: alcornoque

See also

References

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