quercus

See also: Quercus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *kʷerkus, assimilated from Proto-Indo-European *pérkus ~ *pr̥kʷéu- (“oak”). Compare Old Norse fýri (as in fýriskógr (“pine-wood”), Punjabi ਪਰਗਾਇ (pargāī, “holm oak”). See also English fir.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkʷer.kus/, [ˈkʷɛrkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkwer.kus/, [ˈkwɛrkus]

Noun

quercus f (genitive quercūs); fourth declension

1. An oak, oak-tree, especially the Italian oak.
2. (poetic) Of things made from oak wood.

Usage notes

The Italian oak was considered sacred to the god Jupiter.

Declension

Fourth-declension noun (dative/ablative plural in -ubus).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	quercus	quercūs
Genitive	quercūs	quercuum
Dative	quercuī	quercubus
Accusative	quercum	quercūs
Ablative	quercū	quercubus
Vocative	quercus	quercūs

Derived terms

• querceus
• quercī̆nus
• quernus
• querquētum

Descendants

• Translingual: Quercus
• ⇒ Galician: cerquiño, cerqueiro
• Italian: quercia
• Portuguese: querco
• Sicilian: cerza
• Spanish: alcornoque
  • → English: cork

See also

• rōbur

References

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