conferva

See also: Conferva

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cōnferva. See comfrey.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈfɜːvə/

Noun

conferva (plural confervas or confervae or (obsolete) confervæ)

1. An unbranched slender green freshwater alga.

Translations

conferva

• French: conferve (fr) f
• Latin: cōnferva f

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “conferva”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Latin

Alternative forms

• cōnfirma, cōnserva

Etymology

cōnferveō +‎ -a (noun)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /konˈfer.u̯a/, [kõːˈfɛru̯ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /konˈfer.va/, [koɱˈfɛrvä]

Noun

cōnferva f (genitive cōnfervae); first declension

1. conferva (a green freshwater alga, formerly regarded as an aquatic plant)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Pliny the Elder to this entry?)

2. consound (common comfrey, Symphytum officinale)
   • 300 CE – 400 CE, Pseudo-Apuleius, Herbarium 59.4:

     A Graecis dicitur sinfitum, alii confirma, alii conserva, alii pecte, alii alum Gallicum.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cōnferva	cōnfervae
Genitive	cōnfervae	cōnfervārum
Dative	cōnfervae	cōnfervīs
Accusative	cōnfervam	cōnfervās
Ablative	cōnfervā	cōnfervīs
Vocative	cōnferva	cōnfervae

Synonyms

• (consound): cōnsolida

Descendants

• → English: conferva, comfrey
• → French: conferve

References

• “conferva”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• conferva in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 384/1.
• “conferua” on page 398/3 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)