herbitum

== Latin == === Alternative forms === erbutus, erbitus === Etymology === In sense 1, possibly an altered version of arbutus (“strawberry tree”) (compare Portuguese êrvedo), likely influenced by herba (“grass”), which Isidore cites in his explanation. Perhaps compare also Italian erbato and Spanish servato (“sulphurwort, hog fennel (Peucedanum officinale)”). The sense "lawn", given by Gaffiot and by Gustav Friedrich Hildebrand's Glossarium and possibly attested by a gloss, may represent a second lexeme, as it does not fit with Isidore's usage. A meaning "lawn" would make sense as a variant spelling of herbētum from herba (“grass”) +‎ -ētum (suffix forming nouns of place from plant names) (compare Catalan herbei). Compare also herbitium and herbārium. === Noun === herbitum n (genitive herbitī); second declension the name of some kind of plant fed as fodder to flocks a lawn, meadow ==== Usage notes ==== The word occurs in a section of Isidore's Etymologies that explains the names of various plants, such as terebinthus, rhododendron and turbiscus, which suggests that for Isidore herbitum was the name of some specific plant. The identification of the species seems uncertain, although the assumption by Forcellini and Quicherat that it is the rhododendron (mentioned in Isidore's immediately preceding entry) must be rejected. As the Old English glossary where this word appears contains other vocabulary that seems to be taken from Isidore, its definition is presumably derived from that source. It occurs with no definition or context in a manuscript of the Commentarii notarum Tironianarum (a book of shorthand symbols). ==== Declension ==== Second-declension noun (neuter). === References === === Further reading === “herbĭtum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 742/1. “herbitum” in volume 6, part 3, column 2625, line 60 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present