ariena

Latin

FWOTD – 19 November 2020

Etymology

Perhaps derived from an unattested adjective *ariēnus (“ram-shaped”), from aries (“ram”), on account of the similarly curved shape of a ram's horns.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /a.riˈeː.na/, [äriˈeːnä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /a.riˈe.na/, [äriˈɛːnä]

Noun

ariēna f (genitive ariēnae); first declension

1. (Classical Latin, rare) banana
   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia XII.24:

     Maior alia pomo et suavitate praecellentior, quo sapientes Indorum vivunt. Folium alas avium imitatur, longitudine trium cubitorum, latitudine duum. Fructum cortice emittit admirabilem suci dulcedine, ut uno quaternos satiet. Arbori nomen palae, pomo arienae. Plurima est in Sydracis, expeditionum Alexandri termino.

     There is a greater one, surpassing other fruit trees even in softness, which Indian sages live on. Its leaf copies the wings of birds, being three cubits in length and two in width. It produces its fruit from its bark, and the fruit is astonishing in its sweetness, one being enough for four people. The name of the tree is the pala, and ariena that of the fruit. It is found in great number among the Sydraci, at the limit of Alexander the Great's campaigns.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ariēna	ariēnae
Genitive	ariēnae	ariēnārum
Dative	ariēnae	ariēnīs
Accusative	ariēnam	ariēnās
Ablative	ariēnā	ariēnīs
Vocative	ariēna	ariēnae

Synonyms

• mūsa (14th century)

Descendants

• Italian: ariena

References

• “ariena”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press