pirum

Latin

Etymology

A loanword from an unknown Mediterranean substrate source, original form something like (a)pisom reflected also in Ancient Greek ἄπιον (ápion, “pear”) and ἄπιος (ápios, “pear tree”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpi.rum/, [ˈpɪrʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpi.rum/, [ˈpiːrum]

Noun

pirum n (genitive pirī); second declension

1. a pear (fruit)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pirum	pira
Genitive	pirī	pirōrum
Dative	pirō	pirīs
Accusative	pirum	pira
Ablative	pirō	pirīs
Vocative	pirum	pira

Derived terms

• perula (Medieval Latin)
• pirācium
• pirārius (Medieval Latin)

Related terms

• pirus

Descendants

• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Romansch: pair, pér, peir
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *pira pl (reanalyzed as feminine singular)
  • Dalmatian: paira
  • Eastern Romance:
    • Aromanian: pearã
    • Romanian: pară
  • Italian: pera
  • Old French: peire
    • French: poire
    • Norman: paithe, peire, père
    • → Middle Irish: péire
      • Irish: péire
  • Old Occitan: pera
    • Catalan: pera
    • Occitan: pera
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: pera
    • Galician: pera
    • Portuguese: pera
  • Old Spanish: pera
    • Spanish: pera
  • Rhaeto-Romance:
    • Romansch: paira
  • Sardinian: pira
  • Sicilian: piru
  • → Old Dutch:
    • Middle Dutch: pēre
      • Dutch: peer
        • Afrikaans: peer
        • Jersey Dutch: pêr
        • → Aukan: peli
        • → Saramaccan: péíli (from the diminutive form)
      • Limburgish: paer
      • West Flemish: peire
  • → Old English: pere
    • Middle English: pere
      • English: pear
      • Scots: peir
  • → Old High German: bira, pira
    • Middle High German: bir, bire, pir
      • Alemannic German: Biire
      • Bavarian: Birn
      • German: Birne
        • → Estonian: pirn
        • → Kashubian: birna
      • Hunsrik: Bern
      • Luxembourgish: Bir
      • Vilamovian: biyn
      • Yiddish: באַר (bar)
  • → Old Norse: pera
    • Norwegian: pære
    • Danish: pære
      • → Greenlandic: pære
    • Swedish: (with suffix -on) päron
      • → Finnish: päärynä
  • → Welsh: pêr
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: [Term?] (diminutive)
  • Rhaeto-Romance:
    • Friulian: piruç
• Unsorted:
  • → Irish: piorra
  • → Scottish Gaelic: peur

References

• “pĭrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pirum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pirum 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)
• pirum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 467