acrus

Latin

Etymology

Reassignment of Classical Latin ācer from the third declension to the first/second, facilitated by the fact that the nominative singular ācer can itself be taken as a second declension form, initially yielding a paradigm ācer/ācra/ācrum (compare Classical Latin niger/nigra/nigrum 'black').[1] The wide distribution of its descendants across the branches of Romance implies that its presence in the oral language considerably predates its appearance in writing.[1]

Pronunciation

Adjective

ācrus (feminine ācra, neuter ācrum); first/second-declension adjective (Late Latin[2], proscribed)

  1. Alternative form of ācer (“sour, bitter”)
    • [3rd–4th century, Appendix Probi, line 41:
      acre non acrum
      [The correct form is] acre, not acrum]

Declension

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Descendants
  • Balkan Romance:
    • Aromanian: acru
    • Megleno-Romanian: acru
    • Romanian: acru
  • Italo-Romance:
    • Italian: acro (rare or obsolescent)
    • >? Sicilian: àguru (borrowed?)
  • North Italian:
  • Gallo-Romance:
    • Catalan: agre
    • Franco-Provençal: éro; égro
    • Old French: aire; aigre, egre (see there for further descendants)
      • Poitevin-Saintongeais: âre
    • Occitan: agre
    • → Old Galician-Portuguese:
    • → Old Spanish: agre
  • Ibero-Romance:
  • Insular Romance:

References
  1. Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang (2008-), “*/ˈakr-u/ adj.”, in Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman, Nancy: Analyse et Traitement Informatique de la Langue Française, retrieved 24 March 2023: “Ce type flexionnel innovant est précédé par le type acer, acra, acrum (dp. déb. 1er s. av. J.-Chr., Ernout/Meillet4 s.v. ac-).”.
  2. Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “acer”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 24: Refonte A–Aorte, pages 94–99: “Alle rom. formen beruhen auf einer seit dem 3. jh. im lt. belegten nebenform acrus, die besonders in medizinischen texten vorkommt und über deren bildung Niedermann Neue Jahrb. 1912, 324 gehandelt hat.”
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