scirpus

See also: Scirpus

Latin

Alternative forms

• sirpus (rare)

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from a root similar to Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerbʰ- (“to turn (around), wind”) (compare corbis (“basket”), Ancient Greek κάρφος (kárphos, “stalk, straw”), and descendants of Proto-Balto-Slavic *karbás and Proto-West Germanic *korb (“basket”)), but an inherited origin for all of these is controversial. Even if scirp- is indeed related to this set, the phonetics (root vowel i, coda p) are incongruent with inheritance from PIE and so might indicate a wanderwort or substrate language source. Alternatively, De Vaan tentatively suggests a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerp- (“to pluck, cut off”), whence carpō (“to pluck harvest”).

The figurative sense derives from the plaiting of rushes to make intricate patterns.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈskɪr.pʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈʃir.pus]

Noun

scirpus m (genitive scirpī); second declension

1. a rush, bulrush

   Synonym: iuncus

2. (figuratively) riddle, enigma
   • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 940–941:

     CHREMĒS: At mihi ūnus scrūpulus etiam restat, quī mē male habet. PAMPHILUS: Dignus es / cum tuā religiōne odium: nōdum in scirpō quaeris.

     CHREMES: But one little doubt still remains for me, which troubles me greatly.
     PAMPHILUS: You and your over-scrupulous manner merits [our] disapproval: you’re looking for a knot in a bulrush.
     (Literally, the unlikelihood of finding a tangled knot growing in a tall reed. Figuratively, the proverbial expression refers to overthinking things, searching for a difficulty where there is none.)

Usage notes

The phrase nodum in scirpō quaerere means "to treat a problem as greater than it actually is," akin to the English expression "to make a mountain out of a molehill."

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	scirpus	scirpī
genitive	scirpī	scirpōrum
dative	scirpō	scirpīs
accusative	scirpum	scirpōs
ablative	scirpō	scirpīs
vocative	scirpe	scirpī

Derived terms

• nōdum in scirpō quaerere
• scirpea
• scirpeus
• scirpiculus
• scirpō
• scirpula

Descendants

• → French: scirpe
• → Italian: scirpo
• → Sicilian: scirpu
• → Translingual: Scirpus
• ⇒ Late Latin: scirpea, scirpa, schirpa
  • →? Frankish: *skirpa, *skirpja
    • Old French: escharpe (see there for further descendants)

References

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