cervesa

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cervēs(i)a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [sərˈbɛ.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [sərˈvə.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [seɾˈve.za]

• Audio (Valencia):

  (file)

Noun

cervesa f (plural cerveses)

1. beer

Derived terms

• cerveser
• cerveseria

Further reading

• “cervesa”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “cervesa”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “cervesa” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “cervesa”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Latin

Alternative forms

• cervēsia, cerevisia, cervisa, cervisia (Classical)
• herbisa, cirvisa, cerbisa, cerbēsia, cervica (Early Medieval)

Etymology

From a derivative of Proto-Celtic *kurmi', and akin to Cornish korev (“beer, ale”). First documented in Natural History (Pliny) (AD 77–79).

Information on variants

By far the most common form in Classical Latin was cervēsa, and it is particularly well-represented in the Vindolanda tablets. In Late Latin it was marginalised in favour of the forms cervēsia, cervisa, cervisia. The variant vowel ⟨i⟩ for the second syllable seems to have been short, judging by the Romance outcomes, although the Italian cervigia would suggest an additional cervīsia if it is in fact native. Cf. also the Old Spanish çervisa.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kɛrˈweː.sa]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃerˈvɛː.s̬a]

Noun

cervēsa f (genitive cervēsae); first declension

1. Celtic wheat-beer

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cervēsa	cervēsae
genitive	cervēsae	cervēsārum
dative	cervēsae	cervēsīs
accusative	cervēsam	cervēsās
ablative	cervēsā	cervēsīs
vocative	cervēsa	cervēsae

Coordinate terms

• camum, cēlia, zythum

Descendants

(Note: generally via the form cervēsia.)

• Italo-Romance:
  • Old Italian: cervigia
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: cervese
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: cervesa
  • Occitan: cervesa
  • Old French: cervoise (see there for further descendants)
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: cerveja (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Spanish: cervesa
    • Spanish: cerveza (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • → Ancient Greek: κερβησία (kerbēsía)

References

• "cerevisia", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “cervēs(i)a” in volume 03, column 943, line 66 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “cervēsia”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 2: C Q K, page 613

Further reading

• “cervisia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cervīsia”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Occitan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cervēs(i)a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seɾˈbezo/

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Noun

cervesa f (plural cervesas)

1. beer

   Synonym: bièrra

Old Spanish

Alternative forms

• cerbeça, servesa, seriusa, servisia, ceruisa, çervisa, seruisa

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cervēs(i)a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡seɾˈβeza/

Noun

cervesa f (plural cervesas)

1. beer

Descendants

• Spanish: cerveza (see there for further descendants)

References

• “cerveza”, in Vocabulario de comercio medieval [Vocabulary of medieval commerce] (in Spanish), Murcia: University of Murcia, 2013–2024