thyrsus

English

Etymology

From Latin thyrsus, from Ancient Greek θύρσος (thúrsos). Doublet of thyrse, torse, and torso.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈθɜːsəs/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈθɜɹsəs/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)səs

Noun

thyrsus (plural thyrsi)

1. A staff topped with a conical ornament, carried by Bacchus or his followers.
   • 1882, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Poet's Calendar

     In my hand I bear / The thyrsus, tipped with fragrant cones of pine.

   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Second Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC:

     As good to grow on graves / As twist about a thyrsus.

   • 1968, Anthony Burgess, Enderby Outside:

     The champagne was done, and she upturned the bottle to hold it like a thyrsus.

2. (botany) A species of inflorescence; a dense panicle, as in the lilac and horse-chestnut.

Derived terms

• thyrsiform

Translations

staff

• Afrikaans: tirsus
• Bulgarian: тирс m (tirs)
• Catalan: tirs (ca) m
• Dutch: thyrsus (nl) m
• Finnish: thyrsos
• French: thyrse (fr) m
• German: Thyrsus m
• Greek: θύρσος (el) m (thýrsos)
• Hungarian: thürszosz
• Italian: tirso (it) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: thyrsos m

• Polish: tyrs (pl) m
• Portuguese: tirso (pt) m
• Romanian: tirs (ro) n
• Russian: тирс (ru) m (tirs)
• Spanish: tirso (es) m
• Swedish: thyrsosstav (sv) c, thyrsos c
• Ukrainian: тирс m (tyrs)

Anagrams

• thrussy

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek θύρσος (thúrsos, “plant-stalk, Bacchic staff”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈtʰyr.sus/, [ˈt̪ʰʏrs̠ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈtir.sus/, [ˈt̪irsus]

Noun

thyrsus m (genitive thyrsī); second declension

1. thyrsus

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	thyrsus	thyrsī
genitive	thyrsī	thyrsōrum
dative	thyrsō	thyrsīs
accusative	thyrsum	thyrsōs
ablative	thyrsō	thyrsīs
vocative	thyrse	thyrsī

Descendants

• >? Catalan: tros, troç
• Italian: torso
  • → English: torso
    • → Welsh: torso
  • → French: torse
    • → English: torse
  • → Portuguese: torso
  • → Spanish: torso
• >? Occitan: tros
  • → Portuguese: troço
• >? Spanish: trozo
• → English: thyrsus
• → Italian: tirso
• → Middle French: thyrse
  • French: thyrse
  • → English: thyrse
• → Portuguese: tirso
• → Spanish: tirso

References

• “thyrsus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “thyrsus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• thyrsus 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)
• thyrsus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “thyrsus”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]
• “thyrsus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “thyrsus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “thyrsus”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• “thyrsus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin