cervus

See also: Cervus

Latin

cervī (stags)

Alternative forms

• cervos

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *kerwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂wós, from *ḱerh₂- (“horn”) (whence English horn, hirn, Latin cornū (“horn”)) + *-wós (whence Latin -vus).

Cognate with Welsh carw (“deer”), Greek κεραός (keraós, “horned”). The first-syllable e was likely taken from the PIE root noun *ḱerh₂s (“horn”) (itself eventually lost in Latin), while the shift in meaning from 'horned' to 'deer' may be common Italo-Celtic.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈker.u̯us/, [ˈkɛru̯ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃer.vus/, [ˈt͡ʃɛrvus]

Noun

cervus m (genitive cervī); second declension

1. deer, stag
2. (by extension) forked stakes
3. (military) cheval de frise

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cervus	cervī
Genitive	cervī	cervōrum
Dative	cervō	cervīs
Accusative	cervum	cervōs
Ablative	cervō	cervīs
Vocative	cerve	cervī

Derived terms

• cerva
• cervārius
• cervīna

• cervīnus
• cervula
• cervulus

Descendants

• Aragonese: ciervo
• Aromanian: tserbu
• Asturian: ciervu
• Catalan: cervo ⇒ cérvol
• Corsican: cervu
• Esperanto: cervo
• French: cerf
• Friulian: cierf

• Galician: cervo
• Italian: cervo
• Ladin: cerf
• Lombard: cèrf
• Occitan: cèrvi
• Picard: cherfe
• Portuguese: cervo

• Romanian: cerb
• Romansch: tschierv
• Sardinian: cherbu, chervu, cerbu
• Sicilian: cervu
• Spanish: ciervo
• Venetian: cervo
• Walloon: cier

Further reading

• “cervus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cervus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cervus 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)
• cervus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.