cervesia

Latin

cervesia

Alternative forms

• cervēsa (Classical Latin)
• cerevēsia, cervī̆sia, cerevī̆sia, cervī̆sa, cerevī̆sa, cervī̆ssa, cerbī̆sia (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

Ultimately borrowed from Proto-Celtic *kurmi (“beer”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kerˈu̯eː.si.a/, [kɛrˈu̯eːs̠iä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃerˈve.si.a/, [t͡ʃerˈvɛːs̬iä]
• Note: the -i- spellings possibly reflect the merger of /i/ and /e:/ with the quality of [e] but with loss of distinctive length. No Romance descendant points to /i:/. Palatalisation of /s/ (indicated by the -sa spellings) compounds the issue, with what seems like a single short -i- standing for a heavy syllable.

Noun

cervēsia f (genitive cervēsiae); first declension

1. beer, (especially) of higher quality, made of wheat

   Cēterum cēnseō cervēsiam esse bibendam.

   As for the rest, I am of the opinion that we (or everybody) should have some beer.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cervēsia	cervēsiae
Genitive	cervēsiae	cervēsiārum
Dative	cervēsiae	cervēsiīs
Accusative	cervēsiam	cervēsiās
Ablative	cervēsiā	cervēsiīs
Vocative	cervēsia	cervēsiae

Synonyms

• (beer): caelia, cēlia, cēria (Spain), zȳthum, zȳthus (Egypt), bēra, birra (Medieval Latin)

Derived terms

• cervēsārius

Descendants

• Aragonese: zerbeza
• Galician: cervexa
• Old Occitan: cerveza
  • Catalan: cervesa
  • Occitan: cervesa
• Portuguese: cerveja
  • → Kabuverdianu: serveja
  • → Tetum: serveja
• Spanish: cerveza
• Romansch: gervasa (Old Engadine)
• Friulian: cervese
• Old French: cervoise, cerveise
  • Middle French: cervoise
    • French: cervoise
  • → Italian: cervogia
• → Ancient Greek: κερβησία (kerbēsía)

References

• “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 612

Further reading

• “cervesia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cervesia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• cervesia 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)
• “cervesia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “cervesia”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin