vitrum

English

Etymology

From Latin vitrum.

Noun

vitrum (plural vitra)

1. (obsolete) Glass; a glassy material.
   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia:

     I imagine it to be some small parcel of the Steel, which by the violence of the motion of the stroke […] is made so glowing hot, that it is melted into a Vitrum, which by the ambient Air is thrust into the form of a Ball.

Latin

poculum ex vitro.

Etymology

Nominalised from Proto-Indo-European *wed-ro- (literally “water-like”), from the root *wed- (“water”). For the semantic development compare Persian آبگینه (âbgina, “glass”). The plant and its dye were named after the color of glass in antiquity.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯i.trum/, [ˈu̯ɪt̪rʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvi.trum/, [ˈviːt̪rum]

Noun

vitrum n (genitive vitrī); second declension

1. glass

   Synonym: hyalus

   Mihi dicendum est de materia, ex qua vitrum conficitur.

   I must talk about this material, from which glass is produced.

2. dyer's woad, a plant used for dying blue (Isatis tinctoria)

   Synonyms: glastum, isatis

3. woad, a blue dye used by the Britons made from that plant

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vitrum	vitra
Genitive	vitrī	vitrōrum
Dative	vitrō	vitrīs
Accusative	vitrum	vitra
Ablative	vitrō	vitrīs
Vocative	vitrum	vitra

Derived terms

• in vitro
• vitreus

 

Descendants

(See also the descendants of vitreus, which seems to be the source of mass nouns meaning 'glass' in a number of West Iberian languages.)

• Franco-Provençal: vitra
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Emilian: vaider
  • Lombard: védar, veder, védér, vedri
  • Piedmontese: véder
  • Romagnol: védar, vóidar
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Corsican: vetru
  • Dalmatian: viatro
  • Italian: vetro
  • Sicilian: vitru
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: vidre
  • Occitan: veire
• Old French: voirre
  • French: verre, → vitre
    • ⇒ French: verrine
      • → English: verrine
    • ⇒ French: vitrine (see there for further descendants)
  • Norman: vitre, verre
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: veri
  • Ladin: vierech
  • Romansch: vaider
• Sardinian: bídri, bidru, birdi, bírdiu, birdu, bridu, fidru, vidru
• Venetan: véro, viéro
• West Iberian:
  • Aragonese: veire
• Non-Romance borrowings:
  • → Proto-Brythonic: *gwɨdr
    • Middle Breton: guezr
      • Breton: gwer
    • Middle Cornish: gweder
      • Cornish: gweder
    • Middle Welsh: gwydyr
      • Welsh: gwydr
  • ⇒ English: vitreous, vitrify
  • → Esperanto: vitro
  • → German: in vitro
  • → Greek: βιτρίνα (vitrína)
  • → Swedish: vitrös

Further reading

• “vitrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vitrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• vitrum 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)
• vitrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “vitrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “vitrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Old Norse

Adjective

vitrum

1. inflection of vitr:
   1. positive degree strong masculine dative singular
   2. positive degree strong/weak dative plural

Noun

vitrum

1. indefinite dative plural of vitra

Verb

vitrum

1. first-person plural present indicative/imperative active of vitra