scirpus

See also: Scirpus

Latin

Alternative forms

• sirpus (rare)

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerbʰ- (“to turn (around), wind”), cognate with corbis (basket), Ancient Greek κάρφος (kárphos), Old Church Slavonic крабии (krabii): Russian коробка (korobka, “box”), Czech krabice.

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈskir.pus/, [ˈs̠kɪrpʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈʃir.pus/, [ˈʃirpus]

Noun

scirpus m (genitive scirpī); second declension

1. a rush, bulrush
2. (figuratively) riddle, enigma

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	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
• Translingual: Scirpus

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.