labrusca

English

Etymology

From the species epithet in Vitis labrusca, from Latin labrusca.

Noun

labrusca (plural labruscas)

1. The fox grape (Vitis labrusca).

Latin

Alternative forms

• lambrusca (Late Latin)

Etymology

Uncertain:

• if the first vowel was short, possibly a compound of labrum (“lip”) +‎ ūrō (“to burn”) +‎ -ca, in reference to its acidity - notice the substitution of the first member with lambō (“to lick”). This is supported by several ancient grammarians; other grammarians also refer it to labrum, but in the meaning “edge of the field” where it was usually found;
• if the first vowel was long, possibly from lābor (“to glide down”), but this leaves the second element unexplained.

Compare laburnum (“golden chain”) and rūscum (“butcher's broom”) for possible contamination sources.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɫaːˈbruːs.ka], [ɫaˈbruːs.ka]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [laˈbrus.ka]

Noun

lā̆brūsca f (genitive lā̆brūscae); first declension

1. the plant of the woodland grape (Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris)

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	lā̆brūsca	lā̆brūscae
genitive	lā̆brūscae	lā̆brūscārum
dative	lā̆brūscae	lā̆brūscīs
accusative	lā̆brūscam	lā̆brūscās
ablative	lā̆brūscā	lā̆brūscīs
vocative	lā̆brūsca	lā̆brūscae

Derived terms

• lā̆brūscum (“its fruit”)

Descendants

Note that both elements are continued in two shapes: /la-/ vs /lam-/ and /ū/ vs. /u/; as well as in two genders.

• Romanian: lăuruscă
• Dalmatian: abastrain
• Italian: lambrusca, lambrusco
• Tuscan: abròsco, abròstolo, abròstine, abròstano
• Romanesco: ciambrusco
• Northern Italian: lambrosca
• Lombard: lambrüsch, lambrösch
• French: lambris, lambruche, lambrusque
• Franco-Provençal: lambrochi
• Occitan: lambrusca, lambrusc; lambrusco (Gascon)
• Catalan: llambrusca; llebruixea (Majorcan)
• Old Spanish: lambrusca, lambrusco
• → Albanian: larushkë, lërushkë
• → Catalan: labrusca (learned)
• → Portuguese: labrusca (learned)
• → Spanish: labrusca (learned)

References

• “labrusca” in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present

Further reading

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