iuniperus

Latin

Alternative forms

iūnipirus
ziniperus (late, proscribed)
giniperus, geniperus (9th century)

Etymology

Often connected to iūncus (“reed”).^[1] According to Brüch, after the form combrētum, the Latin expected form would be *iūniber, *iūnibrī. The form iūniperus, following him, is a pseudo-Latinism by Sabine speakers, who, themselves in the land of junipers as ancient relations and the terms for particular species catanum and herba Sabīna witness, have borrowed the original form from Umbrian, and knowing the Umbrian correspondence of br to pr and elision of vowels loaned the plant name in the shape iūniperus, iūniperī, in spite of the language of the Latium regularly exposing the nominative singular ending -erus only from old -esos while -er for old -ros.^[2] Often connected to Old Norse einir (“juniper”), supposedly from a Proto-Germanic *(j)ainijaz of the same meaning, through a common Indo-European origin or wanderwort.

Per Trubachyov, also related to iūnīx, typologically the same as *jalovьcь (whence Czech jalovec, Russian я́ловец (jálovec)) related to *jalovica (whence Czech jalovice, Russian я́ловица (jálovica)) (both from Proto-Slavic *jalovъ (whence Czech jalový, Russian я́ловый (jálovyj))).^[3]

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /i̯uːˈni.pe.rus/, [i̯uːˈnɪpɛrʊs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /juˈni.pe.rus/, [juˈniːperus]

Noun

iūniperus f (genitive iūniperī); second declension

juniper-tree

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	iūniperus	iūniperī
genitive	iūniperī	iūniperōrum
dative	iūniperō	iūniperīs
accusative	iūniperum	iūniperōs
ablative	iūniperō	iūniperīs
vocative	iūnipere	iūniperī

Synonyms

(juniper-tree): cedrus

Derived terms

iūnipereus

Descendants

Inherited:
- Balkano-Romance:
  - Aromanian: giuneapini, giuneapine
  - Romanian: jneapăn, jnepen, jneapăr
Borrowed:
- → Portuguese: junípero
- →? Romanian: ienupăr
- → Spanish: junípero
- → Translingual: Juniperus, Juniperites

Reflexes of the late variant ziniperus:

Insular Romance:
- Old Sardinian:
  - Gallurese: niparu
  - Logudorese: nibaru
  - Sassarese: zinibbari
Italo-Dalmatian:
- Italian: ginepro
- Sicilian: jinìparu
- Venetan: xenevro
Gallo-Italic:
- Emilian: zenvar, znever
- Ligurian: zeneivro (medieval), zenêvu
- Lombard: zenivru, zanibru, zenever
- Piedmontese: zenèiver, geneiver, znèivr, znèj, genéj, znavr, zneivar
Rhaeto-Romance:
- Friulian: zenevre
- Ladin: jeneivar
- Romansch: ganaivar, jünaivar, geneivar
Gallo-Romance:
- Catalan: ginebre
- Occitan: genibre, genèbre, genebre
  Gascon: genèbre, ginèbre
- Old Franco-Provençal: genevro
  - Franco-Provençal: genêvro
- Old French: genevre (see there for further descendants)
- → Middle Breton: genevreg
Ibero-Romance:
- Aragonese: chinepro, chinipro, chinebro, chinabro, chinarro
- Old Galician-Portuguese: *jĩebro, *jĩbro
  - Galician: cimbro
  - Portuguese: zimbro
- Spanish: enebro
Borrowings:
- → Basque: ipuru
- →? Old Norse: einir (see there for further descendants)

References

^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “iuncus (> Derivatives > iūnipe/irus)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 313
^ Brüch, Josef (1922) “Lateinische Etymologien”, in Indogermanische Forschungen. Zeitschrift für Indogermanistik und allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft‎^[1] (in German), volume 40, Berlin und Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter & Co., pages 224–232
^ Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1974), “*alovьcь/*jalovьcь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 1 (*a – *besědьlivъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 69