proper nounfirst declension
Prōserpina
Prōserpina or Proserpina f sg (genitive Prōserpinae or Proserpinae)
Classical[proːˈsɛr.pɪ.na]Ecclesiastical[proˈs̬ɛr.pi.na]
Meaning
- RomanProserpina or Proserpine, daughter of Ceres and Jupiter; wife of Pluto, who seized her as she was gathering flowers in Sicily, and carried her to Hades to be queen of the Underworld; equivalent to Greek Persephone, goddess of the seasons and spring vegetation; conflated with earlier Italic Roman deity Libera
- poeticthe Underworld
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | Prō̆serpina | — |
| genitive | Prō̆serpinae | — |
| dative | Prō̆serpinae | — |
| accusative | Prō̆serpinam | — |
| ablative | Prō̆serpinā | — |
| vocative | Prō̆serpina | — |
Prō^serpĭna, ae, f., = Περσεφόνη.
I. Proserpine, daughter of Ceres and Jupiter, and wife of Pluto, who seized her as she was gathering flowers in Sicily, and carried her away to the infernal regions:
Cereris Proserpina puer, Naev. 2, 18; cf. Cic. N. D. 3, 21, 53; 3, 34, 83; Ov. M. 5, 391; Hyg. Fab. 146.—II. Poet., for the Lower World:
sed me Imperiosa trahit Proserpina: vive, valeque, Hor. S. 2, 5, 109.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Prōserpina (Pros-, H.), ae, f
, Περσεφόνη, Proserpine, wife of Pluto, and queen of the Lower World, C., V., H., O.: Imperiosa, i. e. death, H.
Origins
From a form of Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη (Persephónē) by metathesis perhaps first in Magna Graecia via a Sicilian Doric Greek Προσερπίνα (Proserpína) or Ionic Greek Προσερπίνη (Proserpínē), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pers-o- (“sheaf of corn, grain, seed”) and *gʷʰn̥-t- (“to strike”), meaning 'corn-thresher'.
Descendants
- CatalanProsèrpina
- EnglishProserpina
- FrenchProserpine
- EnglishProserpinefrom French Proserpine
- GermanProserpina
- ItalianProserpina
- OccitanProserpina
- RomanianProserpina
- PortugueseProsérpina
- SardinianPruserpina