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

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkʷɛr.kʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkʷɛr.kus]

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, Vergilius, Aeneis 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

• querceus
• quercī̆nus
• quernus
• querquētum

Descendants

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

See also

• rōbur

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.