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

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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