glaber
Meaning
- adjectivesmooth
- adjectivehairless
Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Lævis · Glaber · Fricare · Terere
1. Lævis, levis, (λεῖος) means smooth, in opp. to rough and rugged, and gives a pleasant impression of elegance; whereas glaber (γλαφυρός) in opp. to rough, covered with hair, and grown up, and gives an unpleasant impression of deficiency. 2. Fricare means to rub, and thereby make smooth, like ψήχειν; whereas terere (τείρειν) means to rub, and thereby make less, like τρίβειν.
Declension
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | in -er glaber, glabellus | glabra glabella | glabrum glabellum |
| genitive | glabrī glabellī | glabrae glabellae | glabrī glabellī |
| dative | glabrō glabellō | glabrae glabellae | glabrō glabellō |
| accusative | glabrum glabellum | glabram glabellam | glabrum glabellum |
| ablative | glabrō glabellō | glabrā glabellā | glabrō glabellō |
| vocative | glaber glabelle, glabre | glabra glabella | glabrum glabellum |
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | glabrī glabellī | glabrae glabellae | glabra glabella |
| genitive | glabrōrum glabellōrum | glabrārum glabellārum | glabrōrum glabellōrum |
| dative | glabrīs glabellīs | glabrīs glabellīs | glabrīs glabellīs |
| accusative | glabrōs glabellōs | glabrās glabellās | glabra glabella |
| ablative | glabrīs glabellīs | glabrīs glabellīs | glabrīs glabellīs |
| vocative | glabrī glabellī | glabrae glabellae | glabra glabella |
oves glabrae quam haec est manus, Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 140: si quem glabrum facere velis, Varr. R. R. 1, 2, 26: oves ventre glabro, id. ib. 2, 2, 6: colla boum, Col. 6, 14, 7: crure glaber, Mart. 12, 38, 4: glaber erat tamquam rien, Plaut. Fragm. ap. Fest. s. v. rienes, p. 276 and 277 Müll.: hordeum, Turran. ap. Plin. 18, 7, 15, § 75: tapete, Turp. ap. Non. 542, 18.—Comp.: tu istum gallum glabriorem reddes mihi, quam volsus ludiu'st, Plaut. Aul. 2, 9, 6: maritus cucurbitā glabrior, App. M. 5, p. 163,—Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
Uncertain. Hypothesized to be from Proto-Italic *ɣlaðros, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰl̥h₂dʰ-ro- (“smooth”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰleh₂dʰ- (“smooth, shiny”), which is reconstructed based on the assumed cognates Proto-Germanic *gladaz (whence German glatt (“smooth”)) and Proto-Balto-Slavic *glā́ˀdus (“smooth”) (whence Lithuanian glodùs (“tool for smoothing”)). These stem from a basic root *gʰleh₂- per Schrijver 1995. However, Kroonen denies this etymology for Proto-Germanic *gladaz, preferring to derive it instead from *glōaną, which Kroonen derives from *gʰleh₁-. See Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰleh₁-. *The change of initial *gʰl- to Latin gl- may be regular (despite the contrast with the regular change of word-initial *gʰ before a vowel to Latin h-). Compare medial *-gʰl- becoming *-gl- in trāgula and figulus. (De Vaan 2008 assumes a similar evolution of *gʰr- to *gr-, citing grāmen, whereas Schrijver 1991:311 assumes based on rāvus that word-initial *gʰr- became Latin r-.) Weiss 2018 makes the alternative suggestion that g- in glaber could result from a conditioned dissimilation of roots of the form DʰlVʰD-/DʰrVʰD- to DlVʰD-/DrVʰD-, comparing trahō. In any case, there are no clearly established counterexamples (that is, no solid etymologies showing a change of *gʰl- to Latin l-), although there is a probable case of *gʷʰr- to fr- in frendō. *Schrijver 1991:191 considers it likely that PIE *CRHTC- (*CRH- followed by two consonants, the first a plosive) regularly gives Latin *CRăTC- (compare flagrum, fragrō). To explain this development, De Vaan suggests that the laryngeal may have been lost in this context "before the putative allophonic prop vowel was phonologized."
- Englishglabrous
- Frenchglabre
- Romanianglabrufrom French glabre
- Italianglabro
- Portugueseglabro
- Spanishglabro
- Italiangabbro
- Old Galician-Portuguesegravo
In English words that came into English from glaber
- glabrousglaber
- glabellaglaber