The corpus record — Latin

scirpus

bulrush or similar plant

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Rudens 3 · 2.53/10k
De Corona 1 · 2.06/10k
Menaechmi 1 · 1.05/10k
Andria 1 · 1.02/10k
Res Rustica, Books I-IX 2 · 0.25/10k
Naturalis Historia 4 · 0.1/10k
Noctes Atticae 1 · 0.09/10k

What it meant

1. scirpus — de Vaan

scirpus 'bulrush or similar plant' [m, ο] (Ρ1.+) Derivatives: scirpeus 'woven from bulrushes' (P1.+), scirpiculus [adj. / m.] 'of/for bulrushes; a basket from bulrushes' (P1.+). Pit. *skerpo-l No etymology. Formally, it might go back to *skerp- (cf. firmus and inscn Aiirqurios stircus), in which case it can be derived from the root *skerp- 'to pluck, cut off as in carpo. This leaves the semantics to be explained: … — [de Vaan, s.v. scirpus, p. 560]

2. scirpus — Lewis & Short

scirpus (sometimes sirpus), i, m.

I A rush, bulrush, Plin. 16, 37, 70, § 178; 7, 56, 57, § 206; Fest. p. 330 Müll.; Plaut. Rud. 2, 6, 39; Vulg. Job, 8, 11. —

b Prov.: nodum in scirpo quaerere, to seek a knot in a bulrush, to find a difficulty where there is none: quaerunt in scirpo, soliti quod dicere, nodum, Enn. ap. Fest. p. 330 (Sat. v. 46 Vahl.); so, in scirpo nodum quaeris, Plaut. Men. 2, 1, 22; and: no dum in scirpo quaeris, Ter. And. 5, 4, 38.—

II Transf., deriving the idea of intricacy from plaited work of rushes, a riddle, enigma: quae Graeci dicunt aenigmata, hoc genus quidam e nostris veteribus scirpos appellaverunt, Gell. 12, 6, 1.

3. scirpus — Walde–Hofmann

scirpus, -; m. „Binse“ (seit Enn. und Plaut, rom. [sprichwórtlich in scirpó nódum quaerere], scurfwus Inschr., seirpeus, -a, -um „aus Binsengeflecht* (seit Plt., rom. -ea „Wagenkorb aus Binsen* seit Ov.; vgl seirpieulus [surpiculus) ,Binsenkorb" seit Plt.; vgl. EN, Seirpiänus Inschr); seirpienla, -ae f. „Rebenart* (seit Colum.): unerklürt. Sommer Hb.? 243? nimmt Vermischung zweier Stämme scirp- und surp- (surpiculus … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. scirpus, p. 1402]

In the wild

scirpo Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 7.56.p6
scirpo Terence, Andria 5.4
scirpe Plautus, Rudens 2.6
scirporum Columella, Res Rustica, Books I-IX 8.15.4
scirpi Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 16.37.p4
scirpi Columella, Res Rustica, Books I-IX 7.9.7

6 of 13 attestations shown.

Where it came from

de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. scirpus (scan p. 560; entry #1568). Root candidates: *skerp-.
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. scirpus (scan p. 627; entry #10345).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. scirpus (scan p. 1402; entry #2484).

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.