fraxinus

Etymology

From *bʰr̥Hǵ-s-inos, adjective of Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵos (“birch”). Compare Sanskrit भूर्ज (bhūrjá, “Himalayan birch”) (Betula utilis) and English birch.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈfrak.si.nus/, [ˈfrak.sɪ.nʊs]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

fraxinus (ash tree)

Noun

fraxinus f (genitive fraxinī); second declension

1. an ash tree
   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 16.30

     montes et valles diligit abies, robur, castaneae, tilia, ilex, cornus. aquosis montibus gaudent acer, fraxinus, sorbus, tilia, cerasus.

     Mountains and valleys are favoured by fir, oak, chestnut, linden, scarlet oak, dogwood. Wet mountains abound in maple, ash, service-tree, linden, [and] cherry.

2. an ashen spear or javelin

Adjective

fraxinus (feminine fraxina, neuter fraxinum); first/second declension

1. of ash wood; ashen
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.677–678

     […] certe si fraxinus esset, fulva colore foret […]

     surely if it were of ash, it would have a yellow color

References

• fraxinus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• fraxinus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fraxinus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• fraxinus in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly