vērānum

Meaning

1. Proto Romancereconstructionspring

Origins

Ellipsis of *[tempus vērānum] (“springy time”), from tempus (“time”) + *vērānum (“springy”), the latter from vēr (“spring”) + -ānum (neuter adjective-forming suffix; “-y”). Compare hībernum (“winter”), an ellipsis of the attested phrase tempus hībernum (“wintry time”). The original spring sense survives in Corsican and Sardinian. It is attested in medieval Ibero-Romance as well, but since then there has been a shift to the summer sense due to the derivatives of prīma vēra (originally “early spring”) taking over the general sense of spring.